BELIEVE   IN  GOD  THE   FA-^HER  ALW'CHTY, 


And  in  JE3US  Chfiist  h:5  only  Son  our 
lOKD,  Who  was  conceived  by  the  Koly  Ghost, 
Boftisi  ofte-5eVi?{Gin  Wary.Suffered  under  Pontius 
pJUATE,  Was;  orucifsed,  dead  and  bu:^ied,  He  de- 

8CENDED  JNTOHELL;  ThE  THIRD  DAY  He  ROSE  AGAIN 
FROM  THE  DEAD.  He  ASCENDED  IM-^O  HZAVEN,  AND 
SITTETH  ON  THE  R'GHT  HAND  OF  COD  THE  FATHER 
fliGHTY,  FROM  THENCE  HE  SHALL  COME  TO  JUDQE 
iU'.CK  AND  THE   DEAD. 

}  BELIEVE   m  THE  HOLY  CHCST;  ThZ  HOLY  CaTH- 

OLJG    CHURCH;    ThE    COMMUNiON    OF    SAINTS;    THE 

Forgiveness  of  sins;  The  Rzsurreotion  of  the 

r^DDY.  AND  THE  LaFE  EVERLASTING.  AmEN, 


>^( 


^i^m^ss^mmn 


m 


:i ,  I  O  .  1-4- 


^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  *^g 


Presented   by  Tir.V,  L.Pc\^^o-a  . 


BL    181    .B37    1892 

Barrows,  John  Henry,  1847- 

1902. 
I  believe  in  God  the  Father 

Almighty 


I  Believe  in  God 

THE  Father  Almighty. 


BELIEVE   IN   GOD  THE 
FATHER  ALMIGHTY. 


IViAR  10  1^14 


JOHN  HENRY  BARROWS. 


Fleming  H.  Revell  Company, 

CHICAGO :  I  NEW  YORK : 

148  AND  150  Madison  St.        1        30  Union  Square:  East 
Publishers  of  Evangelical  Literature. 


Eqtered  according  to  /fct  of  Congress,  iq  tl]e  year  1892, 
by  Fleming  U.  f]euell  Company,  iq  the  Office  of  ttie 
Librariaq  of  Congress  at  Washingtoq,  D.  C.  /fli 
rigf]ts  reserved, 


TO   THE 

YOUNG  MEN  AND  WOMEN  OF  AMERICA, 

With  the   prayerful   hope 

that    this   book   may  confirm  them  in  the   joyful  faith, 

with  which   they  repeat, cfrom  its  first   great 

words  to  its  closing  affirmations, 

the   golden   sentences 

of 
The  Apostles'  Creed. 


THE  APOSTLES'  CREED, 


I  Believe  in  God,  the  Father  Almighty, 

Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  in  Jesus  Christ,  His 
only  Son  our  Lord  ;  who  was  conceived  by  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary ;  suffered  under 
Pontius  Pilate  ;  was  crucified,  dead,  and  buried.  He 
descended  into  hell.  The  third  day  He  rose  from  the 
dead.  He  ascended  into  Heaven  and  sitteth  on  the 
right  hand  of  God,  the  Father  Almighty.  From 
thence  He  shall  come  to  judge  the  quick  and  the 
dead.  I  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  Holy  Catho- 
lic Church  ;  the  communion  of  saints  ;  the  forgive- 
ness of  sins  ;  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and  the 
life  everlasting.     Atnen. 


CONTENTS 


The  Strength  of  Theism 9 

God's  Three  Revelations  of  Himself   .         .         37 
The  Eternity  of  God  .        .        .        .        -67 

The  Truth  and  Comfort  of  Theism       .         .         97 


THE  Strength  of  theism, 


Ct^e  5trcngtl^  of  Ct^eism. 


For  every  house  is  builded  by  some 
one^  but  He  that  built  all  things 
is  God:'  —  Heb.3:4. 


IN  these  words  the  common  sense  of 
mankind  finds  expression.  Every  work 
of  contrivance  demands  a  contriver  ;  ev- 
ery work  which  goes  beyond  the  power 
of  human  organization  demands  a  super- 
human creator.  It  is  **  an  incomparably 
great  thing,"  as  Rothe  has  said,  *'to  affirm 
the  existence  of  God,"  and  this  princely 
thinker  of  Germany  declares  that  we  are 
indebted  to  modern  atheistic  philosophy 
for  making  us  vividly  conscious  how 
grand  a  thing  it  is  to  affirm  that  there  is  a 
God.  The  prolonged  discussions  of  our 
times  are  not  only  strengthening  the  foun- 
dations on  which  rests  the  practically  uni- 

[9] 


10  3  Beliepe  in  ®o5. 

versal  belief  in  a  Personal  First  Cause,  are 
not  only  enlarging  the  popular  conception 
of  the  greatness  and  glory  of  the  Creator, 
but  are  also  making  it  plain  that  the  su- 
preme affirmation  which  the  human  mind 
can  make  is  this:  **  I  believe  in  God." 
Resurrection,  miracles,  the  incarnation, 
the  atonement,  are  superstructures ;  this 
is  the  foundation. 

But  in  our  time,  as  in  other  ages,  this 
foundation  is  attacked.  We  are  informed 
and  instructed,  not  so  much  that  God  is 
not,  as  that  we  do  not  know  whether  or 
not  God  is.  That  is,  agnosticism  is  the 
present  form  of  the  anti-theistic  spirit. 
We  are  told  that  science  (and  science  is 
assumed  to  be  the  limit  of  human  knowl- 
edge) neither  proves  nor  disproves  the 
existence  of  an  Infinite  Personal  Being. 
This  is  about  as  far  as  cautious  doubt  ordi- 
narily creeps.  The  atheist  of  to-day  tries 
to  keep  his  mind  in  this  suspended  state, 


Cl?e  Strength?  of  ^F^etsm.  11 

yielding  neither  to  the  evidences  that 
God  is,  nor  to  the  theories  which  would 
account  for  a  universe  without  a  God.  A 
century  ago,  men  were  more  positive. 
The  revolutionary  atheists  of  France,  who 
had  gained  possession  of  the  government, 
issued  a  decree  prohibiting  the  worship  of 
God,  dethroning  Him  from  His  supremacy  ! 
In  the  Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame  they 
knelt  before  a  new  deity  of  their  own 
selection,  the  Goddess  of  Reason,  personi- 
fied by  a  degraded  woman.  Coleridge 
has  thus  daringly  depicted  the  spirit  of 
that  day  :  — 

»'  Forth  from  his  dark  and  lonely  hiding-place, 
(Portentous  sight !)  the  owlet  Atheism, 
Sailing  on  obscene  wings  athwart  the  noon, 
Drops  his  blue-fringed  lids  and  holds  them  close, 
And  hooting  at  the  glorious  sun  in  heaven. 
Cries  out,  '  Where  is  it  ?  '  " 

But  such  is  not  the  usual  temper  of  the 
present  atheism.     Its  fortress  is  the  igno- 


12  3  BelieDe  in  ^ob. 

ranee  of  man  as  to  what  lies  back  of  the 
outward  appearance  of  things.  It  does 
not  go  beyond  phenomena  and  so-called 
second  causes.  It  acknowledges  the  facts 
and  forces  of  the  universe,  but  denies  that 
we  can  go  behind  them  and  affirm  any- 
thing positive  of  their  origin.  In  this 
denial  it  is  guilty  of  stupendous  folly. 
"Every  house  is  builded  by  some  one," 
says  the  general  reason  of  the  race. 
*'Yes,"  is  the  reply,  ''but  as  to  who  or 
what  built  all  things  we  cannot  know,  for 
we  were  not  there." 

In  maintaining  this  position,  modern 
atheism  deems  itself  very  courteous,  mod- 
est, and  wise.  It  does  not  claim  to  be 
happy ;  it  does  not  pretend  to  be  con- 
tented. Some  of  its  literature  is  a  long- 
drawn  wail,  sinking  occasionally  into  a 
whine.  This  is  natural.  The  intellect 
looking  into  this  wonderful  universe  and 
refusing   the    only  natural    explanation  of 


CF?e  Stren^^tF?  of  Cf?etsm.  13 

it,  must  be  restless.  And  the  heart  that 
is  made  for  worship,  acknowledging  no 
supreme  object  of  adoration,  must  be 
equally  uneasy  and  unsatisfied.  And 
when  the  floods  of  sorrow  and  the  terror 
of  death  overwhelm  and  oppress  the  soul, 
and  a  positive  faith  in  an  omnipotent  love 
is  the  foremost  need,  then  it  is  that  mod- 
ern agnosticism  leaves  its  victims  in  such 
pitiful  despair  that  human  nature  rises  up 
against  it.  The  intellect  as  well  as  the 
heart  is  hostile  to  this  kind  of  knownoth- 
ingism.  It  may  be  as  foolish  for  a  man  to 
say,  ''  I  do  not  know,"  as  to  say,  '*  I  deny." 
Here  is  a  book  called  the  Bible,  printed 
on  finest  paper,  silk-sewed,  bound  and 
published  in  Oxford,  one  of  the  miracles 
of  the  printer's  art.  Taking  it  in  his  hand, 
one  person  says,  **A  skillful  man  must 
have  planned  and  executed  the  printing 
of  this  beautiful  book."  He  speaks  the 
world's     common     sense.      Another    man 


14  3  Beltepe  in  ^ob. 

takes  up  the  Bible,  and  says,  "  I  really  do 
not  know  whether  a  human  being  printed 
this  book  or  not.  I  never  was  in  Oxford, 
and  I  certainly  did  not  see  the  making  of 
the  book."  A  third  man  takes  up  the 
Bible  and  says,  "  I  deny  that  any  human 
being  printed  this  book."  It  is  plain  that 
the  second  and  third  men  have  stultified 
human  reason  and  have  stultified  it  equally, 
unless  the  cautious  doubter  manifests  even 
a  little  more  imbecility  than  the  stubborn 
denier. 

The  vice  of  agnosticism  is  that  it  is  an 
attack  on  the  trustworthiness  of  the  hu- 
man faculties.  It  has  been  wisely  said 
"  that  if  a  man  cannot  know  God,  he  can- 
not know  anything,"  that  is,  rationally  and 
scientifically.  The  scientist  makes  all  his 
investigations  on  the  basis  of  certain  prin- 
ciples, certain  self-evident  truths,  and  the 
common  mind  acts  in  the  same  way  in 
coming    to    a    knowledge    of    God.     The 


^F?e  Strengtl}  of  tlf^eism.  15 

scientist  proceeds  on  the  theory  of  causa- 
tion—  that  is,  that  every  change  must 
have  an  adequate  cause  —  on  the  belief 
in  nature's  rationality  and  uniformity,  and 
working  on  this  basis,  he  trusts  his  con- 
clusions. Knowledge  gained  in  this,  the 
right  way,  he  holds  as  certain  in  spite 
of  the  difficulties  and  inconceivabilities 
which  beset  some  of  his  conclusions. 
These  difficulties  it  has  been  said  belong 
to  science  as  well  as  to  theology.  If  a 
man  is  to  distrust  his  faculties  when  they 
lead  him  to  God,  then  he  must  distrust 
them  always.  False  in  one  part,  they  are 
not  to  be  believed  in  another.  Partial 
agnosticism  leads  to  complete  agnosticism, 
as  has  been  frequently  shown.  The  truth 
is,  that  man  has  such  multiplex  and  over- 
whelming evidences  for  believing  in  God 
that  agnosticism  is  the  suicide  of  his 
rational  nature.  It  is  administering  poi- 
son to  all  his  nobler  powers.     It  is  a  degrad- 


16  3  Beltere  in  (Sob. 

ing    prostration    of    himself    before    what 
have   been    called    "  the    hideous    idols    of 
negation."     It    is    remaining    "  an    eternal 
infant,"  that  is,  a  living  savage.     Of  course 
most  agnostics  deny  or  endeavor  to  con- 
ceal the  fact  that  their  system  leads  logic- 
ally to  universal  skepticism.     But  such  is 
the    truth.     The    knowledge    which    men 
gain  of  the  outer  world  rests  on  the  trust- 
worthiness  of  certain    self-evident   truths 
which  are  equally  the  basis  of  science  and 
theology.     The    death   of  one    is   the   de- 
struction of  the  other.     All    must  confess 
that  theism  is  the  constitutional  belief  of 
man,  and  that  atheism,  in  any  of  its  shapes, 
is  the  unnatural  and  uncertain  mental  at- 
titude of  the  few   who  must   be   regarded 
as  the  eccentrics  of  our  race.     It  will  be 
indefinitely  less  of  a  task  to  overturn  the 
Copernican  theory  of  astronomy,  than  to 
root    out    the    belief    in    a   personal    God. 
The   very   generation    when    materialistic 


tn?e  Strcngtl)  of  Cl?etsm.  17 

atheism  has  been  most  active  and  confi- 
dent is  the  generation  in  which  Christian 
theism  has  achieved  its  widest  and  swiftest 
conquests.  Appeals  to  man's  ignorance 
of  what  God  was  doing  in  the  ages  pre- 
vious to  the  beginning  of  this  universe, 
and  to  his  ignorance  of  how  the  Infinite 
One  created  what  was  not  before,  are 
about  as  effective  blows  against  *'  the  most 
venerable  and  general  of  human  beliefs," 
as  would  be  an  attempt  to  disprove  the 
existence  of  Julius  Caesar  because  we  were 
not  clearly  informed  concerning  every 
part  of  his  career,  or  as  would  be  the 
denial  that  there  are  oxen  and  elephants 
in  the  world  because  science  cannot  ex- 
plain how  grass  enters  the  mouth  of  one 
animal  and  is  transformed  into  an  ox's 
hoof  and  into  the  mouth  of  another  animal 
and  is  transformed  into  an  elephant's  tusk. 
Man  is  finite,  and  that  his  knowledge  of 
the   Eternal    and    Infinite    God    is    limited 


18  3  Beliepe  in  ^ob. 

and  shrouded  by  much  of  mystery,  is  what 
he  has  always  confessed  from  the  time  of 
Job  until  now,  and  what  the  Christian  be- 
lieves that  God  Himself  has  asserted  in 
His  revealed  Word.  This  is  also  true  of 
man's  acquaintance  with  material  things. 
But  limited  knowledge  of  God  is  not  an 
argument  against  the  Divine  existence 
any  more  than  our  limited  acquaintance 
with  geology  and  astronomy  disproves  the 
existence  of  the  palpable  earth  and  the 
clear-shining  stars. 

Whence  arises  the  firm  human  faith  in  a 
Divine  Person  ?  Is  the  Being  of  God  a 
part  of  man's  direct  consciousness  ?  I  am 
not  careful  to  defend  this  position,  but  I 
confidently  hold  that  there  is  that  in  the 
human  mind  which  either  implies  God  or 
leads  immediately  to  Him.  Man  has  a 
self-evident  knowledge  of  principles  which 
are  universal  laws  of  thought.  He  per- 
ceives without  proof  that  two  parallel  lines 


^I}e  Strength?  of  ^F?etsm.  19 

can  never  inclose  a  space.  This  is  a 
self-evident  truth.  He  perceives  without 
proof  that  every  effect  must  have  a  cause. 
These  are  universal  laws  of  thought,  true 
everywhere  in  all  times,  and  they  im- 
ply or  presuppose  that  the  universe  is 
grounded  in  reason,  and  in  this  conviction 
is  wrapped  up  the  germ  of  theistic  belief. 
Dr.  Samuel  Harris  has  said  that  ''the  ex- 
istence of  God,  the  absolute  reason  is  a 
necessary  prerequisite  to  the  possibility 
of  scientific  human  knowledge."  Again, 
it  is  natural  for  the  human  mind  to  ask 
not  only,  Who  made  it  ?  but,  What  for  ? 
Our  children  put  this  question  daily,  not 
only  of  things  which  we  make  and  do,  but 
also  of  what  are  called  works  of  Nature. 
Nature  to  the  child's  mind  teaches  the  doc- 
trine of  final  causes,  that  is.  Nature  appears 
to  harmonize  with  the  conviction  that 
whatever  exists  is  for  some  end.  There 
is   a   purpose    running    through    creation. 


20  3  Beltcpe  in  6ob. 

It  was  this  antecedent  conviction  which 
led  Harvey,  Copernicus,  and  Kepler  to 
their  great  scientific  discoveries.  And  in 
this  general  conviction  that  everything  is 
for  some  end,  is  wrapped  up  the  thought 
of  God,  the  Divine  Purposer.  What  are 
called  evidences  or  proofs  of  God's  exist- 
ence are  only  the  fervid  sunbeams  falling 
on  the  strong  predispositions  to  belief 
that  slumber  in  the  human  soul.  Even 
the  leader  of  modern  agnosticism,  Herbert 
Spencer,  acknowledges  that  "  the  assump- 
tion of  the  existence  of  a  first  cause  of 
the  universe  is  a  necessity  of  thought." 
And  yet  he  pronounces  this  first  cause 
unknown  and  unknowable.  We  must  not, 
however,  expect  him  to  be  consistent. 
As  ex-President  Hill  has  written,  *'  Her- 
bert Spencer,  refusing  to  assign  attributes 
to  the  first  cause,  still  expresses  his  faith 
in  the  truthfulness,  faithfulness,  wisdom, 
and    beneficence  of  the  order  of  Nature." 


CI?e  Strength?  of  ^I^eism.  21 

Manifestly,  agnosticism  is  a  hard  and 
devious  road  for  this  blind  giant  to  walk 
in.  If  the  assumption  of  the  existence  of 
a  first  cause  is  a  necessity  of  thought,  and 
the  order  of  Nature  is  uniform,  wise,  and 
good,  then  uniformity,  wisdom,  and  good- 
ness would  naturally  seem  to  belong  to 
the  first  cause.  In  this  case  he  is  not  un- 
knowable. 

Atheism  is  wrecked  when  brought  face 
to  face  with  the  chief  facts  of  the  universe. 
The  first  fact  is  Matter.  Matter  had  a 
beginning,  otherwise  it  is  eternal.  Why 
not  hold  that  matter  is  eternal  ?  Let  us 
first  inquire.  What  is  matter.''  Chemical 
science  reduces  it  to  about  seventy  ele- 
ments. Let  us  suppose  that  these  seventy 
elemental  substances  are  eternal,  self-ex- 
istent. Let  us  not  ask  at  present  how 
these  seventy  dead  gods  came  into  exist- 
ence, but  let  us  grant  their  eternity.  We 
are   forced    to    inquire,    "Which    is   more 


22  3  Beliepe  in  (5o6« 

rational,   the    common    belief  of  mankind 
in   one    Eternal,    Spiritual    Being,    or   this 
fanciful     hypothesis    of     seventy    eternal, 
material     beings  ? "      And    then    we    are 
forced    to    ask,    "  How    did    these    seventy 
stony,  or  metallic,  or  gassy  gods,  not  hav- 
ing life,  get  the  power  to  transform  them- 
selves, not  only  into  this  earth,  so  crowded 
with   marks    of  intelligence,   so   swarming 
with  vitality,  not    only  into  the  wheeling 
congregations  of  isolated  worlds,  but  into 
such  beings  as  we  know  ourselves  to  be?" 
The  absurdity  of  maintaining  the  eternity 
of  matter  as  an  escape  from  the  difficulty 
of  believing   in  an   eternal  mind,  is    con- 
spicuous,   and    becomes     even    more     so 
when,  following  the  newest  science,  which 
teaches   that    the    present    universe  is  not 
eternal,  that  it  had  a  beginning,  we  trace 
the  world  back  to  innumerable  atoms,  as 
the  primordial  elements  out  of  which  has 
sprung  what  we  see  and  know.     Are  these 


C!?e  Strengtl?  of  ^I^etsm.  23 

molecules  self-originated,  self-existent  ? 
Are  we  to  sacrifice  human  faith  in  one  God 
to  this  countless  host  of  atomic  gods  ?  The 
pitiable  spectacle  has  been  sometimes  wit- 
nessed, of  men's  forsaking  the  faith  in  the 
Divine  Spirit,  who  is  eternal  and  unchange- 
able in  His  being,  power,  wisdom,  holiness, 
justice,  goodness,  and  truth,  and  bowing 
down  in  degrading  fetich-worship  at  the 
shrine  of  the  new  polytheism,  adorning  in 
love-sick  folly  and  crowning  with  garlands 
of  rhetoric  these  deified  atoms  which  Sir 
John  Herschel  instructs  us  have  all  the 
appearance  of  **  manufactured  articles." 
Not  content  with  the  **  conclusion  that 
'  Hamlet '  and  '  Paradise  Lost '  are  simply 
products  of  molecular  motion,  that  the 
Iliad  is  only  the  result  of  the  decomposi- 
tion of  brain  matter,  or  that  the  sublime 
strains  of  Isaiah  and  Habakkuk  are  merely 
a  posturing  of  polarized  atoms," — not  con- 
tent with  such  outrageous  folly,  shall  mod- 


24  3  Beliepe  in  ®ob. 

ern  wisdom  bestride  the  molecule  and  say, 
"Down,   O   God   of  Abraham    and    Moses 
and  Newton  !     I   have  found  the  ultimate 
somewhat    that     supersedes    the    Infinite 
Mind  "  ?     This  is  truly  the  landing  which 
an    atheistic    science    has    made    on    the 
shores  of  its  wild  speculation.     It  is  plain 
that  the  reason  can  find  no  resting  place 
in  any  theory  of  eternal  matter,  whether  it 
thinks  of  seventy  elements  or  of  countless 
millions  of  primal  germs  ;  for  the  old,  per- 
sistent question,  **  Who  made  these?"  still 
arises,   and   thus   we    are    driven    into   the 
arms  of  One  who  is  independent,  self-exist- 
ent, eternal.     "  If  all  the  world,"  says  Janet, 
"is   contingent,  the   cause   must   be  abso- 
lute."    If,  following  backward  the  changes 
in   the    visible    universe,   we   finally   reach 
that  beginning  which  science  now  affirms, 
we   must   then    repeat    the    ancient    truth, 
"In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven 
and  the  earth." 


C^e  Strengtl)  of  CF^eism.  25 

Another  fact  over  which  all  forms  of 
atheism  hopelessly  stumble,  is  the  fact  of 
intelligent  order  in  the  universe.  Matter 
not  only  exists,  but  is  arranged  in  count- 
less and  marvelous  adaptations.  In- 
telligence is  everywhere  displayed.  As 
Professor  Fisher  has  written,  "  To  talk  of 
thought  without  a  thinker  is  to  utter 
words  without  a  meaning."  In  what  I 
now  say  the  argument  from  intelligence 
in  the  universe  will  be  linked  with  the 
argument  from  causation.  From  the  ob- 
servation of  orderly  phenomena,  man  in- 
fers a  creating  and  governing  intelligence. 
Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  every- 
thing which  begins  to  be  has  an  adequate 
cause.  The  principle  of  causation  which 
leads  us  inevitably  toward  God  is  at  the 
foundation  of  scientific  inquiry.  The  sci- 
entist may  stop  with  the  second  causes, 
deeming  these  the  proper  limits  of  science  ; 
but   the    mind    never   rests   there,   for  the 


26  3  Beliepe  in  ^ob. 

principle  of  causation  is  never  content 
until  it  reaches  a  first  cause.  This  style 
of  argument,  from  effect  to  cause,  which 
is,  as  I  have  said,  at  the  basis  of  science, 
and  which  to  the  great  mass  of  men  is 
entirely  satisfactory,  is  also  the  Biblical 
style  of  reasoning,  from  the  things  that 
are  made  to  the  infinite  power  and  God- 
hood  of  the  Maker,  from  the  human  house 
built  to  the  human  house-builder,  from 
the  world-house  built  to  the  world-maker, 
God.  "  We  arc  entitled,  we  are  required," 
says  Dr.  Mc  Cosh,  **  to  trust  and  follow 
these  principles."  But  Mr.  Hume  says 
that  while  it  is  proper  for  us,  on  seeing  a 
watch,  to  argue  a  watch-maker,  it  is  not 
allowable  for  us,  on  seeing  the  world,  to 
argue  a  world-maker.  Why  ? — Because 
we  have  seen  a  watch  made  and  have  not 
seen  a  world  made.  But  I  am  sure  that  a 
savage  who  has  never  seen  a  watch  made, 
on  finding  one   in   the    desert,   would   con- 


Cf?e  Stren^tF}  of  (Ef^etsm.  27 

elude  at  once  that  the  machine  had  a  con- 
triver, not  because  he  ever  saw  one  put 
together,  but  because  he  saw  evidences 
that  it  had  been  put  together.  I  never 
saw  the  world  put  together,  but  I  see 
evidences  that  it  has  been  put  together. 
But  evolution,  we  are  told,  displaces  this 
carpenter  theory  of  creation.  The  uni- 
verse was  not  put  together,  but  grew  like 
a  seed.  Quite  possibly  this  is  true.  But 
evolution,  which  is  only  a  law  of  growth, 
neither  disproves  a  Divine  Power  at  the 
root  of  growth,  a  Divine  Purpose  in  the 
end  of  growth,  nor  a  Divine  Wisdom  run- 
ning all  through  the  process  of  growth. 
If  evolution  be  true,  then  we  have  new 
and  even  stronger  argument  for  the  abid- 
ing activity  of  an  Infinite  Mind  in  all 
Nature.  An  acorn  is  more  wonderful  than 
a  Corliss  engine.  In  the  acorn  is  wrapped 
up  a  tiny  organism,  not  only  exhibiting  a 
multitude   of  adaptations   to  soil,  air,  and 


28  3  Beltere  in  ^ob. 

light,  but  also  gifted  with  the  power  of 
reproducing  itself  and  covering  the  earth, 
in  the  lapse  of  centuries,  with  forests  of 
giant  oaks.  The  Corliss  engine  wears  out 
in  time,  and  in  it  is  no  machinery  for  pro- 
ducing similar  mechanisms  which  shall 
also  construct  others  of  like  power,  and  so 
on  without  limit.  A  universe  built  like 
an  engine  or  a  house  requires  God  ;  but 
a  universe  which  began  as  a  seed  or  a 
multitude  of  seeds  requires  not  only  an 
Omnipotent  Creator  at  the  start,  but  also 
an  ever-acting  Divine  Wisdom  in  the  com- 
plex unfolding,  the  intricate  and  manifold 
adjustment  and  developments  of  Nature, 
through  all  the  incomprehensible  periods 
of  the  past  and  the  perpetual  wonder  of 
the  present.  For  evolution,  it  has  been 
well  said,  "  gives  not  simply  a  new  and 
truer  doctrine  of  the  Creator  but  a  sub- 
limer  and  diviner  doctrine  of  Providence." 
But   it   is   objected,   rather  for   the   sake 


^f}e  Strengtl?  of  ^E?etsm.  29 

of  argument  than  for  the  sake  of  truth, 
that  if  every  effect  must  have  an  adequate 
cause,  if  contrivance  implies  a  contriver, 
music  a  musician,  design  a  designer,  world- 
making  a  world-maker,  then  the  world- 
maker  himself  is  an  effect.  Back  of  him 
must  be  another  creator,  and  so  on  in  an 
infinite  series.  To  this  jugglery  I  answer, 
first,  that  the  God  to  whom  the  argu- 
ments from  design  and  causation  lead  us, 
does  not  exhibit  any  marks  of  contriv- 
ance. Nature  appears  to  be  arranged, 
built,  "gotten  up."  God  does  not  soap- 
pear  to  human  thought.  Nature  appears 
to  be  an  effect.  God  does  not  appear  to 
be  an  effect.  Secondly,  if  one  cause  is 
sufficient  to  explain  the  result,  it  is  un- 
reasonable to  multiply  causes.  The  ''  in- 
finite series"  folly  needlessly  multiplies 
causes.  And  thirdly,  it  leaves  the  uni- 
verse still  unexplained.  If  there  be  an 
infinite    chain   of  causes,   we  have   here   a 


30 


3  Belicpc  in  @o6. 


stupendous  effect  which  demands  a  stu- 
pendous cause.  It  has  been  truly  said 
that  the  entire  chain  cannot  hang  upon 
nothing,  and  that  an  endless  adjournment 
of  causes  is  a  process  which  is  meaningless 
and  useless,  and  in  which  reason  can  never 
acquiesce. 

The  human  mind  is  in  endless  protest 
against  that  mental  suicide  which  leaves 
the  stupendous  effect  which  we  behold 
about  us  without  a  cause.  It  is  generally 
in  endless  war  with  any  theory  which 
demands  that  intelligence  should  be  ex- 
plained by  non-intelligence.  The  unper- 
verted  mind  of  man  is  in  sympathy  with 
Napoleon  on  the  Mediterranean  ship-deck, 
as,  pointing  to  the  stars,  he  confuted  and 
silenced  the  atheist  generals  about  him. 
It  is  in  sympathy  with  Lord  Herbert,  in 
pointing  to  the  wonders  of  the  human 
body  as  showing  forth  the  skill  of  a  Divine 
Creator.     It  is  in  sympathy  with  Chalmers, 


trF?e  Strength?  of  ^l^etsm.  31 

in  pointing  to  the  marvels  of  the  human 
eye,  as  a  pregnant  and  luminous  inscrip- 
tion of  Divinity,  fuller  and  plainer,  as  he 
believed,  than  *'  can  be  gathered  from  a 
broad  and  magnificent  survey  of  the  skies, 
lighted  up  though  they  be  with  the  glories 
and  wonders  of  astronomy."  And  when, 
with  the  student  who  pries  with  his  micro- 
scope into  the  cell-structures  of  plant  and 
animal  organization,  the  human  mind  looks 
as  deeply  as  it  is  able  into  the  hidden 
recesses  of  Nature,  beholding  a  tiny,  color- 
ess  mass  so  minute  that  a  hundred  of 
equal  dimensions  would  not  cover  the 
width  of  a  razor's  edge,  and  marks  this 
little  cell,  precisely  the  same  in  oak  and 
eagle  and  the  human  body,  but  neverthe- 
less weaving  all  the  various  tissues  of 
structure,  making  now  a  violet  and  then 
a  vulture,  now  a  geranium  and  then  a 
giraffe,  now  an  elm  and  then  an  elephant, 
now  a  mollusk  and  then  a  man,  it  is  awe- 


32  3  Belicpe  in  ^ob. 

struck  and  worshipful,  knowing  that  this 
little  shuttle,  so  constantly  busy  in  making 
the  marvels  of  the  universe,  must  have  back 
of  it  the  skilled  hand  of  an  Infinite  and 
Ever   Present   God. 

There  are  other  rocks  which  make  ship- 
wreck of  atheism  and  agnosticism,  and  which 
furnish  new  and  still  more  striking  proofs 
of  the  folly  which  would  write  **  No  God  " 
on  the  heavens  above,  which  the  Creator 
has  starred  with  His  name,  and  on  the 
soul  of  man,  which  He  has  graven  with  the 
imperishable  truths  of  personality  and  the 
moral  law.  But  our  present  study  has,  I 
believe,  shown  us  anew  that  the  being  of 
God  is  the  chief  fact  of  human  knowledge, 
denying  or  attempting  to  discredit  which, 
we  find  that  all  nature  fights  against  us, 
as  the  stars  in  their  courses  fought  against 
Sisera.  It  ought  then  to  be  evident  to  all 
that,  since  there  is  a  Divine  Power  above 


C{?e  Strengtl?  of  Cl?cism.  33 

us  and  about  us,  He  is  the  greatest  con- 
cern  of  our  lives.  The  chief  end  of  man 
is  to  glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  Him  forever. 
This  being  true,  can  anything  be  more  of 
an  outrage  to  all  that  is  noblest  in  human- 
ity than  to  make  the  chief  concern  of  our 
lives  a  matter  of  irreverent  jest  ?  Is  there 
anything  more  shocking  than  to  behold 
men  standing,  with  conceited  smirks  on 
their  faces  and  blasphemies  issuing  from 
their  lips,  in  the  presence  of  this  burning 
bush  of  the  universe  wherein  God  dwell- 
eth  ?  A  human  hyena,  howling  about  the 
graves  of  Washington  and  Lincoln,  is  an 
object  to  be  respected  by  the  side  of  the 
impudent  jackal  who  boldly  drags  the  car- 
cass of  his  own  folly  and  foulness  into  the 
splendor  of  the  Great  White  Throne.  We 
are  living  in  the  hand  of  God  the  Creator. 
What  spirit  but  that  of  reverence  becomes 
the  human  soul  ?  When  Daniel  made 
3 


34  3  Beliepe  in  ^ob. 

his  accusation  against  Belshazzar,  he  re- 
proached him  for  his  profane  pride,  and 
closed  with  the  declaration,  "And  the  God 
in  whose  hand  thy  breath  is  and  whose 
are  all  thy  ways,  hast  thou  not  glorified." 


GoD's  Three  Revelations 
OF  Himself. 


(5o6'5  CI]rce  Hcpelations  of 
fjimscif. 


The  God  that  made  the  world  and 
all  things  therein,  He  being  Lord 
of  heaven  and  earthy  diuelleth  not 
ift    temples    made    with    hands; 
neither    is    he    served   by   men's 
hands,  as  though  he  needed  any- 
thing,  seeing  He   himself  giveth 
to  all,   life,  and  breath,  and  all 
things;  and  He  made  of  one  blood 
every  nation  of  men  for  to  dwell 
on  all  the  face  of  the  earthy  hav- 
ing determined    their    appointed 
seasons,  and  the  bounds  of  their 
habitation;  that  they  should  seek 
God,    if    haply    they   might  feel 
after  Him,  and  find  Him,  though 
he  is  not  far  from   each  one  of 
us:  for  in  Him  we  live  and  move 
and  have  our   being;    as   certain 
even  of  your  own  poets  have  said. 
For  we  are   also   His  offspring. 
Being  then  the  offspring  of  God, 
•   we  ought   not   to    think  that  the 
Godhead  is  like  unto  gold,  or  sil- 
ver, or  stone,  graven  by  art  and 

[37] 


38  3  Beltepc  in  @ob. 

device  of  man.  The  times  of 
igno7'ance,  therefore,  God  over- 
looked: but  no7v  He  cotnmandeth 
77ien  that  they  should  all  every- 
where repent;  inasmuch  as  He 
hath  appointed  a  day,  in  the 
which  he  will  judge  the  world 
in  righteousness  by  the  Man  lohom 
He  hath  ordained;  zvhereof  He 
hath  given  assurance  unto  all 
men  in  that  He  hath  raised  Him 
from  the  dead. " —  Acts  77  .•  24-^1. 


THIS  passage  is  taken  from  Paul's  ser- 
mon on  Mars'  Hill,  before  the  curious 
Athenian  philosophers,  among  whom  re- 
ligion had  apparently  reached  the  begin- 
ning of  the  agnostic  stage.  The  truths 
which  the  Apostle  so  skillfully  and  boldly 
proclaimed,  sweep  nearly  the  entire  range 
of  theistic  argument.  With  the  mission- 
ary's assurance  and  ardor,  and  with  an  an- 
cient orator's  consummate  tact  he  brought 
home  his  message.  God's  revelation  in 
Nature  as  the  Creator  of  the  worlds  ;  His 
revelation  in  man,  who  is  God's  child  ;  His 


(Sob's  tEf^rce  Her>eIation5  of  ^imself.    39 

revelation  in  His  Son,  our  Lord,  by  whom 
the  world  is  to  be  judged,  and  the  crowning 
assurance  of  His  self-disclosure  which  comes 
to  us  through  Jesus  Christ  by  His  resur- 
rection from  the  dead, —  this  is  the  outline 
of  the  most  famous  utterance  ever  spoken 
by  man,  and  will  indicate  the  current  of 
our  thoughts  in  this  discourse. 

I  have  already  shown  that  agnosticism 
is  an  attack  on  the  trustworthiness  of  the 
human  faculties,  that  it  logically  destroys 
the  ground  on  which  all  belief  rests.  I 
have  shown  that  the  Spirit  which  says, 
'*I  do  not  know,"  is  as  foolish  as  that 
which  says,  "  I  deny,"  when  the  question 
of  doubt  and  denial  concerns  God.  I  have 
shown  that  the  evidences  for  the  Divine 
existence  are  rays  of  light  falling  on 
germs  of  theistic  belief  already  in  the 
mind.  As  Professor  Shedd  has  written  : 
"The  strenuous  endeavor  of  atheism  to 
prove  there  is  no  God,  proves  that  there 


^0  3  Believe  in  ^ob. 


is  one.  For  if  the  Deity  were  really  a 
nonentity  like  a  griffin,  .  .  .  there  would 
be  no  effort  to  invalidate  it,  but  the  same 
utter  indifference  respecting  the  idea  of 
God  would  prevail  among  mankind  as  re- 
specting the  idea  of  a  griffin."  I  have 
shown  that  atheism  and  agnosticism  are 
hopelessly  wrecked  by  the  two  facts  —  the 
facts  of  matter  and  of  intelligent  order  in 
the  universe  —  and  that  we  are  driven  to 
the  arms  of  Him  whom  Paul  preached  on 
Mars'  Hill,  the  God  who  made  the  world 
and  all  things  therein. 

Of  the  facts  in  God's  revelation  of  Him- 
self in  the  natural  world,  I  shall  now  speak 
of  only  one,  the  fact  of  motion.  If  the 
spiritual  origin  of  matter  be  demanded  by 
our  reason,  equally  does  reason  require 
that  motion  be  explained  by  the  activity 
of  spirit.  If,  with  Professor  Grove  and  the 
physicists,  we  call  motion  one  of  the  affec- 
tions of  matter,  and    discern   in   matter  a 


^ob's  tEf?rce  Kepclations  of  ^imself.    41 

manipulation  of  force,  we  are  equally  com- 
pelled to  seek  the  explanation  of  force  in 
an  intelligent  will.  "  The  conception  of 
force,"  as  Dr.  Whewell  says,  "  involves  the 
idea  of  cause."  Motion,  which  implies 
moving  power,  and  which  comes  to  our 
thought  in  such  various  forms  as  heat, 
electricity,  light,  magnetism,  chemical 
affinity,  gravity,  vital  force  in  plants,  vital 
force  in  animals,  is  a  chief  phenomenon  of 
the  universe.  Everything  we  behold  is  in 
motion.  An  object  may  be  relatively  at 
rest,  as  for  example,  a  building,  or  some 
person  in  it,  but  building  and  person  are 
resting  on  a  body  called  the  earth  that 
is  whirling  eastward  a  thousand  miles  an 
hour.  The  motions  of  the  universe  are 
orderly,  mathematical.  The  forces  we  know 
are  regulated,  in  the  sense  of  being  in  ac- 
cord with  discoverable  law.  They  are 
also  connected,  so  that  one  force  has  its 
equivalent    in    others.      They    are    inter- 


42  3  Beltere  in  ^ob, 

changeable.  Heat  may  be  transformed 
into  electricity,  and  electricity  into  vital 
force.  They  are  connected  with  anterior 
forces  and  are  perpetuated  in  new  move- 
ments. Thus  there  is  a  unity  in  force, 
necessitating  the  thought  of  one  creating 
and  upholding  Power.  All  motions  which 
we  know,  are  in  accordance  with  certain 
laws,  but  law  is  only  a  method  of  motion 
and  is  not  the  source  of  motion.  Law 
points  to  a  law-maker  and  an  executive, 
and  since  intelligence  is  in  the  law,  it  must 
inhere  in   Him  who   ordained   it. 

When  we  think  of  these  so-called  forces 
at  work  about  us,  gravity  drawing  all 
worlds  toward  each  other,  vegetable  forces 
which  lift  the  gigantic  pines  on  Norwegian 
or  Californian  hills  as  high  as  the  lofty 
cathedral  spires,  the  immeasurable  poten- 
cies of  light  and  heat,  and  then  learn  that 
they  have  been  reduced  by  science  to  one 
force,  and  that  philosophic  science  is  com- 


(5ob's  CI?rce  Kepelations  of  f)tmself.     43 

mitted  to  the  truth  that  force  has  a  spir- 
itual origin  ;  when  we  remember  that  uni- 
versal life  is  a  correlated  series  of  motions, 
orderly,  harmonious,  unified,  we  stand  in 
the  luminous  center  of  theistic  belief,  and 
the  thought  of  God  is  as  inevitable  as 
is  the  thought  of  Handel  when  we  are  list- 
ening to  the  majestic,  on-sweeping,  multi- 
tudinous and  yet  unified  harmonies  of  his 
greatest  oratorio.  The  universe,  when 
seen  through  the  lens  of  this  truth,  that 
these  manifold  forces  of  Nature  working 
in  an  intelligible  harmony  must  have  a 
spiritual  origin,  becomes  an  impressive 
revelation  of  God.  We  begin  to  read  the 
alphabet  of  His  omnipotence.  A  child's 
imagination  is  awed  by  the  power  of  fabled 
giants,  but  the  forces  of  Nature  make  hu- 
man might,  though  it  should  equal  that 
of  Milton's  warring  angels  in  Heaven, 
seem  puerile.  What  are  all  the  powers 
of  mankind    compared    with   the  force  of 


44  3  Belicre  in  (5o6. 


the  Lisbon  earthquake  of  1755,  which  not 
only  uplifted  and  overthrew  a  city,  mak- 
ing the  solid  earth  undulate  like  the  waves 
of  the  sea,  but  raised  all  Europe,  from 
Portugal  to  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  and 
upheaved  the  Atlantic  from  the  straits  of 
Gibraltar  to  the  far-off  American  shores  ? 
This  is  the  force  of  gas  and  fire  and  water  and 
steam,  God's  own  energy  working  through 
second  causes,  in  terrestrial  ways.  But, 
inconceivable  though  such  might  is,  it  is 
nothing  to  the  celestial  displays  of  Divine 
Power.  What  pride  would  fill  the  heart 
of  man  if  he  should  be  able  to  build  a 
railroad  track  about  the  earth,  bridging 
the  wide  oceans,  and  if,  on  a  gigantic  train, 
he  should  be  able  to  pile  the  Himalayas, 
the  Andes,  and  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
which  should  be  transported  from  conti- 
nent to  continent  around  the  earth  in  one 
hour,  with  machinery  so  perfect  in  con- 
struction and  adjustment  that  there  should 


6ob's  Ct?ree  HcDelattons  of  f^imself.      45 

be  no  noise  or  slightest  jar,  and  so  endur- 
ing that  the  colossal  train  might  continue 
its  rapid  journey  without  a  break,  round 
and  round  our  globe,  unwearied  for  a 
thousand  centuries.  Even  then  the  forces 
wielded  in  this  Herculean  labor  would  be 
Divine,  though  the  machinery  might  be  of 
human  contrivance.  But  what  is  all  this 
to  that  which  God  is  daily  doing.?  The 
Andes,  Himalayas,  and  Rocky  Mountains 
are  so  small  on  a  raised  globe  that  their 
altitudes  are  scarcely  perceptible,  while 
the  earth  itself,  with  these  tiny  wrinkles 
on  the  surface,  turning  on  its  mild  axle  so 
smoothly  that  the  sick  man's  slumbers  are 
not  disturbed  thereby,  is  whirled  about 
the  sun  at  the  rate  of  nineteen  thousand 
miles  an  hour,  and  kept  in  its  ethereal 
grooves  without  variation  or  shadow  of 
turning  during  the  long,  weary  cycles  in 
which  human  empires  rise  and  fall.  But 
our  earth  is  a  pigmy  by  the  side  of  Jupiter, 


46  3  BcIteDe  in  (Sob. 

who  moves  about  the  solar  center  at  a  still 
greater  speed,  and  the  sun  himself,  com- 
pared with  whom  our  earth  is  but  a  cinder 
of  coal  in  the  mouth  of  a  burning  volcano, 
is  whirling  at  the  rate  of  three  thousand 
miles  a  minute  about  some  vaster  sun, 
while  the  multitude  of  suns  peopling  the 
Milky  Way  are  speeding  about  some  enor- 
mous center  with  the  same  inconceivable 
velocity.  And  when  we  remember  that 
in  order  to  preserve  these  mighty  spheres 
in  balance,  two  opposing  forces,  one  of 
which  would  fling  them  off  into  space  and 
the  other  of  which  would  draw  them  to 
some  greater  body,  need  to  be  perfectly 
adjusted  ;  when  we  remember  that  all 
worlds  are  upheld,  not  by  keeping  them 
at  rest,  but  by  harmonizing  their  vast  and 
complex  motions,  we  are  impelled  to  cry 
out,  '*  The  Lord  God  Omnipotent  reign- 
eth  ! "  And  as  man's  pride  of  power  is 
broken  in  the  presence  of  the  daily  round 


(gob's  CI?ree  Hepelattons  of  ^imself.    47 


of  the  universe,  he  will  repeat  the  question 
of  that  profound  poet  of  the  early  dawn  of 
the  world,  who,  like  all  the  great  seers  of 
our  race,  found  God  in  Nature  and  her 
majestic  movements :  **  Canst  thou  bind 
the  sweet  influences  of  Pleiades,  or  loose 
the  bands  of  Orion  ?  Canst  thou  bring 
forth  the  Twelve  Signs  in  their  season,  or 
canst  thou  guide  Arcturus  with  his  sons?" 
But  however  luminous  and  suggestive 
the  disclosures  of  God  which  come  to  us 
from  without,  they  are  pale  before  the 
effulgent  light  which  burns  in  our  own 
souls.  Effectually  barring  the  progress 
of  atheism  and  agnosticism  is  the  fact  of 
the  human  mind,  with  its  consciousness, 
self-determination,  freedom,  multiplied  in- 
tellectual powers,  moral  convictions,  and 
religious  ideas  and  emotions.  Man  is  the 
stumbling-block  of  modern  materialism. 
He  is  also  the  rock  and  fortress  of  theism. 
God  becomes  real  to  us  through  ourselves. 


48  3  Beltcr>e  in  ^ob. 


Coming  to  a  knowledge  of  our  own  per- 
sonality, we  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  the 
Divine  personality.  The  fundamental  fact 
in  the  whole  structure  of  our  knowledsre 
is  consciousness.  You  are,  and  know  that 
you  are.  You  are  yourself  and  not  an- 
other. You  are  a  mind  having  capabili- 
ties many,  emotions  various  and  mighty. 
You  are  a  will  with  self-determination  and 
freedom.  You  have  not  always  been. 
You  know  your  dependence.  You  know 
your  moral  responsibility.  You  are  in  the 
grasp  of  something  which  imperatively 
demands  that  you  act  righteously ;  and 
you  are  equally  in  the  grasp  of  a  reason 
which  demands  that  you  be  explained  as 
an  effect.  If  there  is  intelligence  in  you, 
there  must  be  intelligence  in  your  Creator  ; 
otherwise  the  effect  would  contain  ele- 
ments not  involved  in  the  cause  ;  and  this 
remains  true  whether  you  date  your  crea- 
tion   back    twenty,   sixty,  or   unnumbered 


^ob's  Cf}rec  Her>eIattons  of  ^tmself.    49 

millions  of  years.  If  there  is  personal- 
ity in  you,  there  must  be  personality  in 
Him  who  made  you.  If  there  is  a  moral 
law  at  work  in  your  soul,  the  Creator  must 
be  the  moral  law-giver.  The  Cilician  poet 
whom  Paul  quoted  on  Mars'  Hill  expressed 
the  truth  which  we  must  come  to  believe 
when  we  know  ourselves  :  *'  We  also  are 
His  offspring." 

Materialism  breaks  down  utterly  in  the 
attempt  to  show  that  man  is  the  son  of  an 
atom  and  not  the  son  of  the  Lord  God 
Almighty.  Even  Herbert  Spencer's  chief 
apostle  in  America,  John  Fiske  of  Cam- 
bridge, acknowledges  that  "  the  progress 
of  modern  discovery,  so  far  from  bridging 
over  the  chasm  between  mind  and  matter, 
tends  rather  to  exhibit  the  distinction 
between  them  as  absolute."  But  the  task 
given  to  materialism  is  not  only  to  show 
that  the  forces  of  Nature  and  the  princi- 
ples of  life  are   deduced  from   matter,  but 


50  3  Belteoe  tn  (gob. 

that  the  soul  with  its  faculties,  that  all 
ideas,  that  the  moral  law,  that  man's  con- 
sciousness of  God,  are  all  products  of 
matter  or  deductions  from  it.  Says  Dr. 
Henry  B.  Smith,  **  If  materialism  fails  to 
deduce  any  of  these  things  from  matter, 
the  entire  system  fails."  Man  is  a  con- 
scious spirit,  standing  on  the  summit  of 
creation,  surveying  the  earth  and  subduing 
it,  entering  into  her  secret  chambers  with 
the  torch  of  investigation,  and  employing 
her  riches  for  ends  which  are  spiritual. 
Does  he  himself  belong  to  an  order  that 
is  material,  mechanical,  fatalistic  ?  Every 
emancipated,  unperverted  soul  holds  him- 
self as  of  another  and  higher  range  of 
being  than  material  forms  and  forces. 
While  in  Nature  he  holds  himself  as  super- 
natural in  the  sense  of  being  above  the 
material  order,  and  when  his  mind  is  ex- 
alted, he  reverences  his  own  **  onlooking 
and  inestimable  spirit,  beside  which  the 
stars   are   painted    dust." 


(Bob's  ^f?ree  ^epelations  of  ^tmself.    51 

We  cannot  think  of  ourselves  without 
thinking  of  God.  Hence,  as  one  of  the 
profoundest  philosophers  of  America  has 
written  :  **  No  idea  so  impresses  universal 
man  as  the  idea  of  a  God.  Neither  space 
nor  time,  neither  life  nor  death,  not  sun, 
moon,  or  stars,  so  influence  the  immediate 
consciousness  of  man  in  every  clime,  in  all 
generations,  as  does  that  Presence  which 
in  Wordsworth's  phrase  is  not  to  be  put 
by.  This  idea  overhangs  human  existence 
like  a  firmament,  and  though  clouds  and 
darkness  obscure  it  in  many  zones,  while 
in  others  it  is  crystalline  and  clear,  all 
human  beings  must  live  beneath  it,  and 
cannot  possibly  get  from  under  its  all- 
embracing  arch."  Atheism  has  rightly 
been  called  an  insult  to  humanity.  Man 
is  conscious  of  reason  and  of  obligation  to 
do  right  ;  and  if  reason  and  righteousness 
do  not  rule  in  the  universe,  then  he  must 
either  exalt  himself  as  a  god,  which  his 
own  sense  of  dependence  and  unworthi- 


52  3  Beliepe  in  (Sob, 

ness  forbids,  or  else  he  must  distrust  his 
own  consciousness,  and  be  landed  in  utter 
skepticism.     He  will  do  neither. 

I  remember  the  reverent  emotions  with 
which  I  walked  through  the  splendid  Mu- 
seum of  Natural  History  which  bears  the 
great  name  of  its  founder,  Agassiz.  There 
I  saw  the  world  in  miniature,  the  curious 
wonders  of  sea  and  land,  the  treasures  of 
all  the  deeps,  of  all  the  continents,  and 
gradually  a  sense  of  awe  crept  into  my 
soul,  as  if  I  had  been  admitted  by  special 
favor  into  the  laboratory  of  the  Almighty. 
And  then  I  marked  how  these  million 
specimens  of  Divine  thought  had  been 
arranged,  each  room  representing  one  di- 
vision or  subdivision  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Nature,  each  alcove  exhibiting  an  infinite 
care  and  patience  in  the  details  of  its 
assortment ;  and  as  I  wandered  on,  I  saw 
how  wonderfully  the  great  naturalist 
had   classified   his   treasures,   so   that   each 


(5ob'5  CI?ree  Kepelattons  of  f^imself.     53 

department  was  the  vestibule  to  new  and 
nobler  products  of  the  Divine  workman- 
ship. And  then  I  thought  of  the  compre- 
hensive mind  which  had  gathered  and 
studied  and  placed  these  corals  and  shells 
and  birds  and  creeping  things  and  four- 
footed  beasts  which  had  haunted  the  icy 
shores  of  Labrador  and  the  tropic  vegeta- 
tion of  the  Amazon,  that  mind  which  had 
discovered  in  the  works  of  Nature  many 
infallible  proofs  of  a  Divine  Wisdom.  And 
I  thought  of  the  great  heart  which  had 
lovingly  and  patiently  brooded  over  this 
superb  display  of  the  marvels  of  earth, 
the  gathering  of  which  was  the  chief  labor 
of  his  life  ;  so  that,  although  thinking  of 
the  Museum,  I  felt  myself  to  be  in  a  tem- 
ple where  Aristotle,  and  Bacon,  and  New- 
ton, and  Cuvier,  and  Faraday  would  have 
worshiped  God,  nevertheless,  thinking  of 
Agassiz  himself,  I  believed  myself  to  be 
in  a  sanctuary  where  David  and  Plato  and 


54  3  Beltepe  in  ®o6. 

the  highest  souls  of  all  times  would  have 
seen  the  brightest  inscriptions  of  the  Eter- 
nal Spirit. 

But  to  know  man  in  his  grandeur  we 
must  stand  in  other  fanes  besides  those  of 
science.  There  is  the  world-wide  temple 
of  the  imagination,  carpeted  with  blossoms 
of  beauty  and  overhung  with  the  stars  of 
truth  and  love.  There  I  see  the  Brahman 
poets  singing  their  Vedic  hymns.  There 
I  see  Homer, 

••The  blind  bard  who  on  the  Chian  strand, 

By  those  deep  sounds  possessed  with  inward  light, 

Beheld  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey, 

Rise  to  the  swelling  of  the  voiceful  sea," 

and  whose  resounding  lines  beat  like  war- 
drums  and  thrill  like  the  trumpet's  ardors 
after  eighty  generations.  There  I  see 
Dante,  dwelling  by  faith  in  a  supernatural 
world  and  making  it  more  real  to  his 
nation  than  the  geography  of  the  Italian 


(Sob's  ^l^ree  Herjclattons  of  ^imself.      55 

peninsula.  There  I  see  Shakespeare, 
whose  imaginary  personages  are  more 
vivid  to  our  m-inds  than  the  neighbors 
across  the  way.  There  is  Wordsworth, 
feeling  in  his  soul  the  pressure  of  that  un- 
seen Spirit  whose  dwelling  is  everywhere, 
and  by  his  cheerful  insight  and  magic 
interpretations  of  Nature,  lifting  a  genera- 
tion to  serener  hights.  There  is  Emerson 
questioning  the  rhodora, 

"  Whose  purple  petals  fallen  in  the  pool 
Made  the  black  waters  with  their  beauty  gay," 

and  believing  that  the  same  power  which 
evoked  the  blossom  called  to  it  the  poet- 
worshiper.  Standing  in  such  a  temple, 
does  atheism,  does  agnostic  materialism, 
find  in  atoms,  or  blind  molecular  forces,  the 
explanation  of  these  radiant,  far-seeing  fac- 
ulties that  have  woven  a  golden  web  of 
beauty  and  of  music  over  earth  and  sky, 
and  starred  them  with  the  name  of  God  } 


56  3  Bcliere  in  ^ob. 

Has  mole-eyed  unbelief  convicted  of  folly 
these  angelic  spirits  who  sang  with  the 
consciousness  of  the  Eternal  Spirit  brood- 
ing over  their  souls  ? 

It  is  surely  not  needful  to  contemplate 
further  the  impotence  of  a  materialistic 
philosophy  to  account  for  man.  It  has 
never  explained  how  matter  could  rise 
into  self-consciousness,  or  into  love.  It 
has  never  begun  to  explain  the  birth  of 
the  moral  sense.  It  simply  commits  sui- 
cide when  it  attempts  to  resolve  into 
molecular  equivalents  the  great  righteous 
acts  and  moral  sublimities  of  history,  the 
courage  of  Martin  Luther,  the  patriotism 
of  Washington,  the  ardent  unselfishness 
with  which  Wendell  Phillips  cast  all  his 
ambitions  behind  him  to  help  the  slave, 
the  serene  self-sacrifice  of  the  American 
captain  who,  while  the  iron  ship  was  sink- 
ing, and  only  one  could  escape  from  the 
hold  of  death,  calmly  gave  that  chance  to 


<5ob'5  tEf?rce  Hepelations  of  ^imself.    57 

another.  These  acts  belong  to  a  sphere 
which  materialism  can  no  more  reach  than 
it  can  destroy  man's  faith  in  the  Divine 
righteousness  which  rules  in  conscience. 
But  there  is  one  other  temple  greater  than 
all  the  rest,  on  entering  which  we  dis- 
cover as  nowhere  else  the  impertinence 
of  atheism  and  the  glory  of  humanity.  It 
is  the  temple  of  Religion.  Men  have  lived 
with  the  sense  of  God  supreme  in  their 
souls,  a  passion  in  their  hearts.  He  has 
been  to  them  the  one  fact  and  crowning 
reality  of  life.  Can  atheism,  armed  with 
the  microscope,  and  prying  for  a  thousand 
years,  find  in  the  atomic  particles  a 
rational  explanation  of  that  faith  in  a 
friendly  God  which  led  Abraham  away 
from  home  and  country  and  kindred  into 
a  new  land,  and  which  so  wrought  in  his 
soul  and  life  that  he  by  it  was  enabled  to 
open  in  history  that  new  order  of  things 
which  controls  human  civilization  to-day  ? 


58  3  Beltepc  in  (Sob. 

What  has  agnostic  materialism  to  say  in 
accounting  for  the  life  of  Moses  who,  "see- 
ing the  invisible,"  bore  the  mightiest  bur- 
dens ever  laid  on  human  shoulders  ?  Can 
it  find  latent  in  the  stone-dust  or  in  the 
rocky  foundations  of  Mars'  Hill  the  invinci- 
ble spirit  with  which  the  Apostle  Paul 
proclaimed  his  faith  in  Him  in  whom  we 
live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being? 
Have  the  devout  minds  of  the  ages  been 
deluded  w.hen  they,  in  communion  with 
God,  have  risen  to  holy  ecstasy  or  poured 
out  their  souls  in  rhythmic  aspiration  ? 
What  mean  the  raptures  of  Christian  faith 
in  dying  hours  ? 

"He  lifts  me  to  the  golden  doors  ; 

The  flashes  come  and  go, 
All  heaven  bursts  her  starry  floors 

And  strews  her  lights  below, 
And  deepens  on  and  up  !     The  gates 

Roll  back,  and  far  within 


(Sob's  ^I)rce  Revelations  of  I^tmself.    59 

For  me  the  Heavenly  Bridegroom  waits, 

To  make  me  pure  of  sin. 
The  sabbaths  of  eternity  — 

One  sabbath  deep  and  wide  — 
A  Hght  upon  the  shining  sea  — 

The  Bridegroom  with  His  Bride  !  " 

What  mean  these  devout  aspirations  ? 
Are  they  the  twitching  of  diseased  nerves, 
resulting-  from  the  anger  of  misplaced 
molecules  ?  What  account  can  material- 
istic unbelief  give  of  man  as  he  appears  in 
the  temple  of  worship?  —  None  that  ex- 
plains him  ;  none  that  is  not  a  monstrous 
absurdity,  requiring  of  us  a  savage  credul- 
ity more  debasing  than  fetich-worship. 
And  as  we  perceive  the  frantic  folly  to 
which  men  have  been  driven  to  escape 
from  God,  we  shall  more  serenely  repose 
in  the  faith  that  ''each  human  mind  must 
rest  on  a  mind  sympathetic,  creative,  and 
eternally  young." 


60  3  Belteue  in  ®ob. 

It  is  with  a  heart  hushed  with  awe  that 
I  bring  before  you  now  the  fifth  and  final 
fact  which  shatters  atheism  and  agnosti- 
cism. I  mean  the  person  of  Christ.  A 
theory  may  be  considered  as  a  frame. 
A  fact  is  a  picture.  If  the  picture  is  too 
large  for  the  frame,  the  frame  must  be  cast 
aside.  We  have  found  Nature  too  large 
for  the  theory  of  atheism.  We  have  found 
man  altogether  too  large.  But  when  we 
bring  to  this  frame  the  picture  of  man  at 
his  highest,  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  we  find 
ourselves  endeavoring  to  inclose  the  ocean 
in  a  wine-glass  and  compress  the  stars  into 
a  crucible.  Atheistic  materialism,  which 
must  account  for  Jesus  Christ  as  well  as 
for  other  men,  is  compelled  to  pervert 
history  and  reason  to  bring  Him  to  the 
common  level,  and,  having  done  this, 
stumbles  over  His  humanity  as  hopelessly 
as  over  the  humanity  of  ordinary  men. 
But   taking    Jesus    for    what    the    greatest 


^ob's  d?ree  Hcpclattons  of  ^tmself.      61 

unbelievers  have  regarded  Him,  "  the  in- 
comparable man,  the  matchless  flower  of 
our  race,"  how  shall  we  regard  His  testi- 
mony to  the  Divine  Father  ?  Shall  we 
receive  Newton's  testimony  with  regard 
to  gravity,  Faraday's  testimony  with  re- 
gard to  electricity.  Sir  Lionel  Beale's  testi- 
mony with  regard  to  cell-structure,  and 
reject  Christ's  testimony  with  regard  to 
the  primal  fact  of  religion,  the  existence 
and  nature  of  God?  Has  not'this  Man  an 
unquestionable  right  to  speak  with  author- 
ity on  this  one  theme  ?  Has  not  the  ag- 
nostic been  rightly  described  as  one  who 
disbelieves  the  testimony  of  Jesus  regard- 
ing God  ?  And  when  Christ  assures  us 
that  by  doing  the  Father's  will  we  shall 
know  of  the  doctrine,  when  He  gives  each 
one  a  practical  test  of  these  great  things 
of  the  Spirit,  is  He  not  to  be  believed  ? 
Has  not  His  testimony  received  innumer- 
able confirmations  ?     Is  it  not  a  fact  that 


62  3  Beltcr»e  in  ©ob. 

multitudes  of  men,  bewildered  by  Nature 
and  speculations  about  Nature,  and  blinded 
by  sin,  have  been  brought  to  know  Jesus 
Christ,  and  have  walked  out  into  the  light 
of  Christian  faith  where  God  has  been  the 
chief  moving  and  moulding  force  of  their 
lives  ? 

But  when  we  regard  the  person  of  Christ 
without  prejudgments  against  the  super- 
natural, we  find  Him  refusing  to  come 
within  the  categories  of  a  sensuous  phil- 
osophy, or  to  be  explained  by  the  laws  of 
human  heredity.  We  find  in  Him  a  spir- 
itual originality  which  made  Him  lonely 
in  the  age  when  He  lived  —  a  **  sweetness 
and  light "  that  were  not  embittered  into 
cynicism  toward  man,  or  darkened  into 
distrust  toward  God  ;  a  self-assertion  that 
would  be  madness  were  it  not  supported 
by  a  wisdom  and  holiness  unparalleled,  and 
withal  a  self-sacrifice  that  has  bound  the 
Christian    generations  to  the  foot    of  His 


^ob's  ^(^rce  Her)eIation5  of  ^tmself.    63 

Cross.  Failing  to  find  any  mark  of  sin  in 
His  life  or  any  defect  in  His  all-sided 
virtue,  we  perceive  Him  standing  before  us 
as  the  miracle  of  history,  and  we  do  not 
wonder  at  the  spiritual  force  which  from 
Him  has  rolled  like  an  ocean-tide  down  the 
years,  breaking  in  blessing  on  the  shores 
of  all  the  continents  to-day.  We  do  not 
wonder  that  the  wisest  of  our  race  have 
seen  in  Him  the  brightness  of  a  heavenly 
glory  and  the  express  image  of  the  Divine 
Person,  and,  beholding  Him,  have  rejoiced 
in  the  Father's  love  revealed  in  Him  for 
our  redemption.  We  do  not  look  down- 
ward into  the  primitive  particles  of  matter 
for  the  origin  of  that  moral  glory  which 
illumined  Palestine  and  is  making  the 
whole  earth  a  Holy  Land.  We  do  not 
find  in  the  atheist's  dreams  of  development 
from  atoms  the  faintest  or  remotest  possi- 
bility of  any  explanation  of  that  love  and 
tenderness  which  transfigured  the  tragedy 


64  3  Beltepe  in  ©ob. 

of  Calvary.  Not  from  beneath  —  an  evolu- 
tion from  matter  —  but  from  above,  a  reve- 
lation from  God  and  of  God,  this  is  the 
explanation  of  Christ  to  which  we  are 
driven.  Something  divine  entered  hu- 
manity in  Jesus.  His  word  is  the  final  law 
of  the  Spirit.  The  God  He  revealed  is 
love,  and  through  Him  God  becomes  to  us 
a  power  unto  salvation.  It  was  but  natu- 
ral that  such  a  Saviour,  with  such  a  disclos- 
ure, should  prove  himself  lord  over  the 
material  world,  using  it  to  confirm  his 
doctrine.  It  was  but  natural  that  a 
God  of  love,  purposing  to  join  together 
forever  redemption  from  sin  with  the 
revelation  of  man's  immortality,  should 
have  given  assurance  of  His  great  intent 
in  the  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the 
dead. 

On  every  Lord's  day  we  celebrate  in 
jubilant  hymns  the  Redeemer's  rising  from 
the  tomb,  whereby  he  is  declared  to  be  the 


^ob's  Cf?ree  Hepelattons  of  ^tmself.      65 

Son  of  God  with  power.  Something  hap- 
pened, as  one  has  said,  in  far-off  Judea,  on 
the  third  day  after  Jesus'  death  —  some- 
thing happened,  which  changed  the  world. 
This  is  a  fact  which  unbelief  cannot  ex- 
plain away.  By  this  open  tomb  we  see 
our  God,  as  He  is  not  revealed  in  the  star- 
strewn  and  moving  heavens,  or  in  the 
powers  of  our  own  minds,  or  in  the 
smitings  of  conscience.  We  see  Him  as  a 
God  —  not  of  might  merely,  and  wisdom, 
and  holy  law,  but  as  God,  our  Friend  and 
Saviour,  bringing  to  us,  like  the  sunshine 
of  April,  which  "  startles  with  crocuses  the 
sullen  earth,"  the  warmth  of  heavenly  love 
and  hope.  In  the  risen  Christ  He  becomes 
to  us  the  conqueror  of  sin  and  death. 
Therefore  we  walk  out  of  the  shadows  of 
denial  and  doubt  in  v/hich  we  may  have 
lingered,  and  pour  forth  our  gladdest 
hymns.  Abiding  with  the  risen  Lord, 
atheism,  with  all  its  nightmare  horrors, 
5 


QG  3  BeltcDC  in  ®ob. 

is  a  forgotten  dream.  "  And  may  the 
God  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Fa- 
ther of  glory,  give  unto  us  the  spirit  of 
wisdom  in  the  knowledge  of  Him,  the  eyes 
of  our  understanding  being  enlightened  : 
that  we  may  know  what  is  the  hope  of  our 
calling  and  what  the  riches  of  the  glory  of 
His  inheritance  in  the  saints,  and  what  is 
the  exceeding  greatness  of  His  power  to 
those  who  believe,  according  to  the  work- 
ing of  His  mighty  power,  which  He  wrought 
in  Christ  when  He  raised  Him  from  the 
dead." 


CI)e  Eternity  of  (Bob. 


CI?c  eternity  of  (5o6. 

*'  Frojn  everlasthig  to  everlasting  ihojt 
art  God.'''' —  Ps,  go  :  2. 

•        •        • 

THESE  are  words  from  the  Psalm  of 
Moses,  and  they  express  that  view  of 
the  nature  of  God  which  was  given  to  the 
Hebrew  reader  in  the  mysterious  name 
Jehovah.  From  the  burning  bush  at  Horeb 
the  Lord  revealed  Himself  to  Moses  as  the 
*'IAm,  the  Existing  One,  the  Eternal." 
The  word  Jehovah,  is  regarded  as  meaning 
*'  the  Living  "  or  *'  Self-Existent."  It  was  a 
sacred  word  with  the  Hebrews,  never  pro- 
nounced, and  expresses  that  aspect  of  the 
divine  nature  on  which  reverence  and  awe 
most  easily  fasten.  The  sublime  concep- 
tion of  a  God,  the  dwelling-place  of  His 
people  in  all  generations,  to  whom  a  thou- 

[69] 


70  3  Beliepe  in  ^06. 

sand  years  are  but  as  a  watch  in  the  night, 
existent  in  absolute  perfection  before  the 
mountain  ridges  were  lifted,  or  the  world's 
foundations  laid,  a  God  before  whose  date- 
less antiquity  the  life  of  man  is  as  grass 
growing  up  in  the  morning,  and  in  the 
evening  cut  down  by  the  mower's  scythe, 
this  sublime  conception  was  the  refuge  and 
rock  of  Israel,  and  is  a  part  of  Israel's 
legacy  to  the  Christian  mind  of  every  age. 
God's  eternity  is  thus  seen  to  be  a  very 
ancient  and  familiar  thought,  but  in  the 
heart  of  all  old  truth  is  a  vast  realm  of 
new  truth  awaiting  exploration.  Since  we 
use  language  so  thoughtlessly,  since  we 
daily  pronounce  words  that  are  weighted 
with  infinite  meaning,  mindless  of  their 
significance  ;  since,  even  in  prayer,  we  are 
habitually  employing  phrases  about  God 
without  ever  having  pondered  them,  it  will 
be  wise  for  us  to  contemplate  the  old  He- 
trrew  doctrine  that  God  is  eternal,  a  doc- 


tr^e  eternity  of  (Sob.  71 

trine  associated  in  the  New  Testament 
with  the  nature  of  Christ,  who  is  declared 
to  be  ''the  same,  yesterday,  to-day,  and 
forever;"  and  who  said  of  Himself,  ''Be- 
fore Abraham  was  I  am."  I  propose  then 
as  our  theme  of  meditation,  "  The  Eternity 
of  God,  the  Proof  and  Moral  Uses  of  the 
Doctrine."  From  the  Scriptural  represen- 
tations, it  is  manifest  that  God's  existence 
is  different  in  its  mode  from  our  own.  "  I 
Am,"  not  "I  have  been,"  or  "I  shall  be,"  is 
His  wonderful  name. 

Thus  we  are  carried  to  the  edge  of  that 
insoluble  mystery,  so  inspiring  in  its  sub- 
lime lifting  of  our  thoughts  above  ourselves, 
that  there  is  with  God  a  mode  of  being 
entirely  different  from  our  own  ;  that  all 
that  is,  or  has  been,  or  will  be,  is  a  part 
of  His  serene  and  ever-present  conscious- 
ness ;  that  God  is  to  what  we  call  time 
that  which  He  is  to  space  ;  that  He  who 
inhabits   immensity,  also    and    equally  in- 


72  3  Beliepc  in  (Sob. 

habits  eternity.  Think  for  a  moment  of 
space.  The  mind  sees  it,  and  knows  that  if 
there  were  nothing  else  in  the  universe 
space  would  be  left.  The  mind  perceiv^es 
that  space  extends  indefinitely  in  all  di- 
rections, that  the  imagination  can  put  no 
Chinese  wall  about  it,  since  infinite  space 
lies  beyond  every  inclosure  which  the  ' 
mind  can  construct.  The  enormous  dis- 
tances in  our  solar  system  are  but  a  finger's 
breadth  in  that  universe  which  the  tele- 
scope has  already  disclosed.  But  God  fill- 
eth  it  all.  Now  transfer  this  to  time.  We 
know  of  time  only  by  a  succession  of  cycles 
or  events,  that  is,  by  motions  in  space. 
But  God  is  to  time  what  He  is  to  space. 
He  filleth  it  all.  That  is,  He  is  the  hab- 
itant of  a  realm  of  changeless  existence, 
what  the  Scriptures  call  eternity.  To  Him 
there  is  no  past  or  future  such  as  ours,  no 
mutation  of  being,  no  learning  or  forget- 
ting, but  from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  a 


trf?e  €ternttY  of  ^06.  73 

continuous,  and  abiding,  and  perfect  self- 
possession  —  a  being  without  possibility  of 
beginning  or  ending,  "  infinitely  excelling 
all  bounds  of  duration,"  because  Himself 
absolute,  free  from  limitations,  independ- 
ent of  time.  Is  not  this  the  greatest 
thought  that  ever  transfixed  and  trans- 
figured the  mind  of  man  ?  With  us  time 
is  either  past,  present,  or  future.  The 
years  come  and  go.  But  the  living  God, 
the  "I  Am"  of  Moses,  dwelletih  in  an 
"eternal  now," — all  that  has  been,  is,  or 
will  be,  the  perpetual  and  abiding  posses- 
sion of  His  infinite  Mind,  being  known  to 
Him  truly  —  that  is,  in  their  relations  to 
each  other  as  first,  midst,  or  last  —  in  that 
realm  of  time  of  which  we  are  subjects,  but 
equally  known  to  His  changeless  intelli- 
gence. But  as  creatures  we  can  but  think 
of  God  as  existing  in  space  and  time,  and 
subjecting  Himself  to  our  limitations.  The 
Scriptures  hint  at  the  Divine  reach  of  be- 


74  3  Beltet>e  in  ^ob. 

ing ;  and  Philosophy  has  affirmed  it,  as 
differing  from  ours  in  that  it  is  absolved 
from  temporal  conditions.  But,  as  created 
beings,  we  can  conceive  of  God  only  as  re- 
lated to  us,  with  succession  of  thought  and 
activity,  so  that  we  shall  sum  up  all  that  can 
be  clearly  revealed  to  us  of  God's  eternity, 
when  we  declare  of  it  that  it  includes  these 
three  truths,  that  God  now  is,  that  He  has 
ever  been,  and  that  He  ever  will  be.  The 
sublime  words  of  Moses  give  us  the  full 
truth.  **Thou  art  God,"  God  exists; 
"from  everlasting  thou  art  God,"  God  has 
always  existed  ;  "to  everlasting  Thou  art 
God,"  God  will  exist  forever. 

First,  then,  God  is.  This  is  the  chief 
fact  of  human  knowledge.  Men  are  so 
predisposed  to  believe  in  God  that  the  first 
evidences  of  his  being  are  sufficient  to  pro- 
duce the  conviction  of  His  existence.  It  is 
certain  that  men  generally  have  recognized 
that    they    are    intimately    connected    by 


C{?e  €ternttY'of  (Sob.  75 

spiritual  blood  with  the  Author  of  all 
things  ;  that  hence  they  are  bound  to  wor- 
ship and  to  please  Him,  and  that  without  His 
favor  they  are  plunged  into  despair.  In 
view  of  what  is  observed  in  the  world  of 
mind  and  the  world  of  Nature,  men  have 
been  convinced  of  their  origin  in  a  supreme 
power,  their  need  of  a  supreme  love,  and 
their  peril  before  the  supreme  Author  of 
the  moral  law  within.  The  human  mind,  in 
its  natural  working,  is  strongly  theistic. 
You  sit  down  by  a  piano,  and  some  friend 
with  long-practiced  fingers  renders  for  you 
a  rhapsody  of  Liszt  or  song  of  Mendels- 
sohn, and  you  look  on  and  listen  in  de- 
lighted astonishment,  amazed  at  the  sweet 
or  intricate  harmonies  which  the  composer 
has  written,  and  at  the  manual  dexterity 
which  throws  them  off  lightly  from  the 
piano  keys,  and  you  will  not  for  one  mo- 
ment believe  that  all  those  marvelous 
combinations  of  musical  sounds  were  the 


76  3  Belicpe  in  ®ob. 

chance  thrummings  of  an  idiot.  You  lie 
on  the  rocks  by  the  Atlantic  Coast  and  see 
the  foaming  billows  following  each  other 
to  the  shore  with  mathematic  march  and 
precision  ;  you  listen  to  the  musical  sob- 
bing of  the  waves  sliding  up  the  strand, 
and  remember  that  the  pallid  moon  and 
the  glowing  sun  by  their  weight  and  heat 
lift  the  ocean  up  and  down,  ruffling  his 
glistening  mane  till  he  roars  with  a  voice 
which  is  heard  by  the  capes  and  promon- 
tories of  every  zone  ;  you  listen  to  the 
moaning  wind  sweeping  over  the  sea,  bring- 
ing health  and  freshness  from  the  Arctic 
region  which  sends  its  cooling  tides  and 
breezes  along  the  North  Atlantic  shore  ; 
and  then  you  turn  from  the  sea,  and  gaze 
into  some  tiny  salt  pool  in  a  hollow  of  the 
rocks,  a  home  of  life  and  beauty,  with  green 
mosses  stretching  their  fairy  arms  over  the 
barnacles  that  open  their  eager  mouths  to 
take  the  food  which  Nature  has  provided, 


Cf?e  (Eternity  of  ^ob,  77 

the  whole  scene  a  picture  which  no  human 
painter  can  approach  ;  and,  as  you  listen 
and  gaze,  no  prattler  of  atheism  will  vent- 
ure to  tell  you  amid  such  surroundings  that 
there  is  no  wise  Thinker  in  the  universe, 
no  heavenly  Musician,  no  Celestial  Artist, 
no  Omnipotent  Ruler,  but  you  will  rather 
give  heed  to  the  voice  of  the  Hebrew 
Psalmist  and  say  with  him,  "The  sea  is 
His  and  He  made  it,  and  His  hand  formed 
the  dry  land." 

Some  of  us  have  looked  at  that  white 
marble  wonder,  the  Cathedral  of  Milan. 
We  have  stood  beneath  its  spacious 
arches  ;  have  walked  about  its  carved 
pediments  ;  have  gazed  with  delight  at  its 
hundreds  of  pinnacles  and  thousands  of 
statues  ;  have  wandered  over  the  roof,  a 
tropic  flower-garden  of  sculptured  stone, 
and,  from  the  central  spire,  have  looked 
down  on  the  whole  beautiful  pile  at  our 
feet,  instinct  with  thought  and  devotion,  a 


3  Belier>e  in  (Sob. 


priceless  jewel  on  the  brow  of  the  Queen 
of  Lombardy,  and  no  one  could  persuade 
us  that  all  this  strength  and  splendor  of 
architecture  sprang  from  a  volcanic  ex- 
plosion in  the  marble  quarries  of  Carrara. 
Such  skepticism  is  not  launched  at  the 
petty  cathedrals  which  man  has  builded, 
and  very  rarely  at  this  majestic  cathedral 
of  God,  this  pillared  and  pinnacled  Cosmos 
of  beauty  and  power,  whose  music  is  the 
chant  of  morning  stars. 

Secondly,  in  the  doctrine  of  God's  Eter- 
nity is  contained  the  truth  that  God  ever 
has  been.  This  follows  necessarily  from 
the  first  statement  that  God  is,  or  in  other 
words,  that  a  First  Cause  exists.  If  God 
is  the  First  Cause  of  all  that  is,  then  He 
is  without  beginning.  If  He  began  to  be, 
then  he  were  not  first.  That  which  is  a 
First  Cause  is  uncaused.  There  is  nothing 
back  of  a  First.  That  which  is  first  must 
be    from    eternity.     If  there    ever  were   a 


CI?e  €terntty  of  ^ob.  79 

time  when  God  was  not,  there  is  no  God 
now.  He  never  could  have  come  into  be- 
ing, for  there  was  nothing  to  cause  His 
existence.  God's  life,  then,  never  had  a 
beginning.  By  searching  we  cannot  find 
a  period  before  which  God  was  not.  The 
mind  will  in  vain  weary  itself  in  the  effort, 
and  yet  an  effort  may  give  us  a  more  ade- 
quate conception  of  the  word  eternal  as 
applied  to  the  life  of  God.  A  minute,  if 
passed  in  pain,  or  even  in  silence,  is  long 
An  hour  seems  to  us  an  age,  if  passed  in 
dread.  A  week  of  sorrow  drags  very 
slowly  to  its  death.  A  year  crowded  with 
events  is  so  long  a  period  that,  if  we  were 
carried  to  its  beginning,  we  might  hardly 
know  ourselves.  But  go  back  in  thought 
to  the  time  before  the  Civil  War,  and  you 
are  almost  in  antiquity. 

Fifty  years  ago,  many  of  us  were  not 
born,  many  were  in  their  cradles,  and 
those  who  were   men   and  women   grown, 


8^  3  Beltcpe  in  ^ob. 

were  reading  Webster's  speeches  in  the 
Senate.  Fifty  years  ago  is  a  remote 
epoch.  But  there  are  some  now  living 
who  remember  a  period  still  more  remote. 
Eighty  years  ago  there  was  no  railroad,  or 
steamship,  or  telegraph,  and  the  West  was 
almost  an  unpeopled  solitude.  But  stand 
in  the  entrance  of  the  old  South  Church 
in  Boston,  and  think  back  more  than  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  to  the  day  when, 
at  the  dedication  of  this  building  on  the 
site  of  an  older  structure,  the  pastor,  Mr. 
Sewall,  gave  out  the  prophetic  text :  "And 
the  glory  of  the  latter  house  shall  be 
greater  than  the  glory  of  the  former,  saith 
the  Lord  of  hosts  !  "  But  God  was  then 
the  dwelling  place  of  His  people,  even  as 
now.  Cross  the  Atlantic,  stand  in  West- 
minster Hall  in  London,  and  number  the 
kings  there  crowned,  before  La  Salle  first 
sailed  the  waters  of  Lake  Michigan,  '*  be- 
fore the  acorn  fell  which    grew  into  a  keel" 


CI?e  (Eternity  of  ^06.  81 

for  the  Mayflower.  But  God  was  the 
dwelling  place  of  His  people,  then  as  now. 
Go  to  Jerusalem,  enter  the  Holy  Sepulcher, 
lay  your  hand  on  the  stone  of  unction 
which  was  kissed  by  holy  lips  that  grew 
cold  in  death  before  the  English  nation 
and  the  English  language  were  born,  yes, 
a  thousand  years  before  Columbus  turned 
his  prow  toward  the  New  World.  But 
leaving  the  Sepulcher,  you  may  lay  your 
hands  on  the  ruins  of  a  temple  reared  a 
thousand  years  before  Jesus  walked  in 
Jerusalem.  Or,  you  may  stand  by  the 
Great  Pyramid  of  Egypt,  and  gaze  at  a 
monument  which  was  finished  before  Ab- 
raham crossed  the  Euphrates,  aye,  two 
thousand  years  before  Romulus  laid  the 
foundation  of  Rome.  But  God  was  then 
the  dwelling  place  of  His  people,  as  now. 
Go  back  to  the  morning  of  history.  Walk 
with  Adam  in  Paradise,  and  then,  in- 
structed   by  modern    knowledge,  let  your 


82  3  Beltere  in  ^ob. 

mind  retire  into  those  far-distant  ages, 
millions  of  years  ago,  when  this  world  was 
formless  and  empty,  floating  as  a  part  of 
the  fire-mist,  and  you  have  not  reached 
the  cradle  or  the  birth-hour  of  God. 

And  when  we  have  heard  and  heeded 
the  voice  of  science  declaring  that  these 
cycles  of  life,  of  which  we  are  a  part,  were 
preceded  by  others  enduring  through  mil- 
lions of  ages,  and  these  by  others  equally 
vast,  through  whose  numberless  centuries 
worlds  slowly  came  into  being,  planets 
emerged  from  nebulous  vapors,  and  heat 
and  ice  worked  their  miracles  in  upheaving 
continents,  and  grinding  the  rocky  prom- 
ontories into  the  soils  out  of  which  van- 
ished forms  of  organized  life  were  builded  ; 
when  we  remember  that  all  the  incalculable 
periods  which  geology  and  astronomy  dis- 
close, with  vast  suns  waning  slowly  through 
epochs  innumerable,  are  but  an  instant  to 
the  aeons  that  preceded  them,  a  moment's 


Cl?e  (Sternity  of  606  83 

ripple  of  life  beside  the  oceanic  expanses 
of  infinitude,  an  insect's  flutter  and  gleam 
after  sidereal  ages  and  cycles  of  ages,  roll- 
ing back  into  the  immensities  of  time,  even 
then  we  have  not  reached  the  beginning  of 
God,  of  whom  Moses  said,  **  He  is  from 
everlasting;"  of  whom  Isaiah  declared 
that  ''  He  inhabiteth  eternity." 

But  thirdly,  involved  in  the  truth  of 
God's  eternity,  is  the  doctrine,  not  only 
that  God  is,  and  ever  has  been,  but  that 
He  ever  will  be.  He  who  is  "  from  ever- 
lasting" must  be  *' to  everlasting."  It  is 
impossible  that  that  which  has  been,  in 
infinite  and  undiminished  life  from  all  eter- 
nity, should  ever  know  diminution  or  ces- 
sation of  being.  God  can  suffer  no  hurt, 
can  experience  no  decay.  He  cannot  be 
destroyed  by  another,  being  omnipotent. 
He  cannot  destroy  Himself,  being  perfect. 
Therefore  we  may  send  our  strongest- 
winged    imaginations,  not    only   backward 


84  3  BelicDC  in  ^06. 


but  forward,  and  never  reach  the  limita- 
tions of  God's  endless  being.  All  our  cal- 
culations show  how  futile  is  the  effort  to 
compass  the  thought  of  God's  endless  eter- 
nity. 

Men  have  imagined  that  one  drop  in  the 
ocean  should  be  removed  in  a  million  of 
years,  and  then,  after  another  million  of 
years,  one  other  drop  should  be  taken 
away,  until  the  wide-reaching  immensities 
and  profundities  of  the  sea  had  been  ex- 
hausted, down  to  the  rocky  foundations  of 
the  great  deep  ;  but  such  a  period  of  time 
is  only  one  moment  with  the  eternal  God. 
Men  have  imagined  a  bird  sent  out  to  the 
earth,  and  taking  one  grain  of  sand  and  fly- 
ing far  away  to  the  sun,  and  after  a  thou- 
sand years,  returning  for  another  grain  of 
sand,  and  this  long-winged  flight  continued 
through  ages  after  ages  unnumbered,  until 
the  mighty  earth  had  vanished,  and  until 
all  the  other   planets  had    been    removed. 


Cf?e  (EternttY  of  (Sob.  85 

and  until  other  systems  of  worlds,  beside 
some  of  which  this  world  is  but  a  speck, 
had  been  transported  and  heaped  upon  our 
sun  ;  but  in  God's  eternity  all  this  would  be 
but  an  instant,  a  mathematical  moment, 
which,  like  a  mathematical  point,  has  no 
dimensions.  The  eternity  of  God,  instead 
of  ending,  would  not  have  suffered  the  least 
diminution.  Eternity  is  the  life-time  of 
the  Almighty  ;  existence  without  begin- 
ning or  ending,  without  birth  or  death,  in- 
fancy or  age.  He  who  is  from  everlasting 
is  to  everlasting,  the  high  and  lofty  One, 
inhabiting  Eternity. 

From  the  contemplation  which  our  argu- 
ment has  forced  upon  us,  it  will  be  felt, 
First,  that  the  conception  of  God's  eter- 
nity is  a  most  powerful  incentive  to  wor- 
ship, for  it  is  not  a  part  of  God  that  is 
possessed  of  this  sublime  attribute,  but 
His  whole  Infinite  Nature,  His  power  is 
from  everlasting  to  everlasting.     Not  one 


86  3  Bcltet?e  in  (Sob, 

slightest  element  of  force  has  ever  been 
subtracted,  or  ever  will  be  taken  there- 
from. And  so  God's  knowledge  and  wis- 
dom are  eternal.  He  has  never  been 
learning,  and  He  has  never  forgotten. 
"  Known  unto  God  are  all  His  works  from 
eternity."  So,  too,  of  His  mercy,  His  jus- 
tice, and  His  holiness.  They  are  from 
everlasting  and  they  endure  forever.  In 
him  the  venerableness  of  immemorial  an- 
tiquity is  united  with  the  splendor  of  im- 
mortal youth.  He  is  the  Ancient  of  Days, 
yet  fresh  with  the  dews  of  an  eternal 
morning.  We  are  adding  year  by  year  to 
our  knowledge  and  experience,  seeking 
new  truth  and  new  joy.  But  we  are  also 
leaving  behind  us  something  of  the  beauty 
and  freshness  of  life's  morning  hours.  The 
glory  of  the  splendid  dawn  dies,  as  Words- 
worth sings,  "  into  the  light  of  common 
day."  Not  so  with  God  ;  eternally  old,  he 
is  immortally  young  ;  the  same  in  all   His 


^I)e  eternity  of  606.  87 

adorable  perfections,  yesterday,  to-day, 
and  forever,  "  without  variableness  or 
shadow  of  turning." 

When  you  see  a  great  and  holy  man, 
weighted  with  the  wisdom  of  seventy  years, 
venerable  with  prayer  and  devout  medita- 
^tion,  a  man  who  has  seen  two  genera- 
tions pass  to  their  echoless  graves,  you 
stand  in  reverence  before  such  a  life.  But, 
while  you  revere,  your  sad  thought  flies 
onward  to  the  swift-coming  day,  when, 
amid  tolling  bells  and  tearful  crowds,  the 
good  man  shall  be  laid  away  in  the  ground 
which  his  footsteps  hallowed,  and  men 
shall  mourn  that  his  voice  of  heavenly 
wisdom  is  forever  silenced.  But  suppose 
that  this  man  had  lived  on  the  earth  from 
the  beginning  of  time,  had  been  the  con- 
temporary of  Adam,  and  Noah,  and  Moses, 
and  David,  and  Paul,  and  Augustine,  and 
Luther,  and  Washington  ;  suppose  that  the 
"good,    gray    head"    was    venerable    with 


3  Belicpe  in  ^ob. 


seventy  centuries,  instead  of  seventy  years, 
of  meditation  and  experience ;  suppose 
that  he  had  been  the  companion  of  patri- 
archs of  the  elder  world  ;  that  he  had 
watched  the  Syrian  stars  in  the  tent-door 
with  Abraham,  and  had  sat  with  Jesus 
beneath  the  olive-trees  outside  Jerusalem  ; 
suppose  he  had  seen  the  first  stone  of  the 
Pyramids  planted  in  Egyptian  sand,  and 
the  gilded  cross  placed  above  St.  Peter's 
dome,  and  had  himself  built  the  first  tem- 
ple of  Christian  worship  on  the  shores  of 
America  ;  and  suppose  that,  with  all  his 
weight  of  years,  he  was  still  in  the  hey- 
day of  youthful  life,  and  you  knew  that 
he  would  yet  watch  a  hundred  centuries 
to  their  death,  in  the  ages  to  come,  until 
his  Master  had  subdued  all  the  earth  by 
His  reconciling  love,  with  what  augmented 
awe  and  reverence  would  you  salute  the 
wise  and  holy  man  of  God  whose  life  had 
been    parallel   with    the   life   of  humanity. 


Cl?e  (Eternity  of  (gob.  89 

But  what  is  even  such  a  life  to  that  of 
God  ?  It  is  less  than  the  first  falling 
sand  in  the  hour-glass.  Before  creation 
began,  God  is,  the  great  Jehovah,  the 
Eternal,  ''I  Am,"  resplendent  with  the 
power  and  wisdom  and  goodness  by  which 
all  worlds  came  into  being,  and  perfect  in 
that  holiness  that  burneth  forever,  the  con- 
suming fire  of  the  all-righteous  God,  who 
from  eternity  to  eternity  doeth  no  pin  and 
suffereth  no  change  ! 

The  ninetieth  Psalm,  the  Psalm  of  Moses, 
is  a  trumpet-call  to  adoration.  *'  Thou 
hast  been  our  dwelling-place  in  all  gen- 
erations. Before  the  mountains  were 
brought  forth  or  ever  Thou  hadst  formed 
the  earth  and  the  world,  even  from  ever- 
lasting to  everlasting  Thou  art  God."  And 
David  answers  with  a  note  equally  wor- 
shipful, "They  shall  perish,  but  Thou  re- 
mainest,  and  they  shall  all  wax  old  as  doth 
a  garment,  and  as  a  vesture  shalt  Thou  fold 


90  3  Beltepe  in  ®ob, 

them  up,  and  they  shall  be  changed.  But 
Thou  art  the  same,  and  Thy  years  shall 
not  fail."  The  mighty  evolutions  of  the 
past,  which  science  is  disclosing,  are  illus- 
trations of  God's  eternity,  calling  us  to  our 
knees.  And  how  we  may  well  commiser- 
ate those  in  our  time,  who,  gazing  at 
these  stupendous  unfoldings,  see  no  eternal 
Father. 

"Mourn  not  for  them  that  mourn 

For  sin's  keen  arrow  with  its  rankling  smart  ; 
God's  hand  will  bind  again  what  he  hath  torn, 

He  heals  the  broken  heart. 
But  weep  for  him  whose  eye 

Sees  in  the  midnight  skies  a  starry  dome, 
Thick  sown  with  worlds  that  whirl  and  hurry  by, 

Yet  give  the  heart  no  home ; 
Who  marks  through  earth  and  space 

A  strange  dumb  pageant  pass  before  a  vacant 
shrine, 
And  feels  within  his  inmost  soul  a  place 

Unfilled  by  the  divine." 


trf?e  €ternity  of  ^ob.  91 

But,  secondly,  God's  eternity  introduces 
the  thoughtful  heart  into  a  boundless  field 
of  consolation.  When  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  left  the  Cathedral  after  his 
consecration,  the  English  crowds  were 
wont  to  shout  after  him,  **  Remember 
eternity!"  "Remember  eternity!"  This 
word  of  solemn  monition  I  would  trans- 
form into  a  word  of  comfort,  and  say  to 
every  believing  heart,  wounded  by  afflic- 
tion and  burdened  with  care,  ''  Remember 
eternity."  It  is  the  habitation  of  God. 
From  everlasting  the  Infinite  Father  has 
been  mindful  of  you,  who  were  **  chosen  of 
Him  before  the  foundation  of  the  world," 
and  who  are  not  to  be  snatched  from  Him 
by  the  principalities  and  powers  of  evil,  or 
to  be  separated  from  His  love  in  Christ 
Jesus  by  things  present  or  things  to  come. 
God's  covenant  with  us  is  sure,  because 
He  is  eternal.  He  who  hath  loved  us  from 
everlasting  abides  to  everlasting  to  fulfill 


9-  3  Believe  in  ^ob. 

all  His  promises.  Heaven  and  earth  pass 
away,  but  the  word  of  the  Lord,  who  is 
eternal,  endureth  forever. 

Science  and  revelation  both  declare  that 
this  world  shall  be  burned  up  and  become, 
let  us  suppose,  like  the  gray  ashen  moon, 
the  cinder  of  a  consumed  planet.  And  we 
are  far  less  abiding  than  this  dear  old 
world  on  which  the  sun  has  shined  so  long. 
And  what  we  love  most  is  as  transient  as 
ourselves.  Household  friends  are  borne 
away  by  the  flood  of  years,  *'  sweetest 
lives  overwhelmed  and  lost  to  sight." 
Cherished  hopes  come  forth  in  vigor  — 
fresh  buds  in  May,  gorgeous  leaves  in 
October,  dead  leaves  in  December.  Storms 
beat  on  every  side,  but  the  children  of  God 
are  joined  to  an  eternal  life.  The  restless 
mutations  of  earth  disturb  not  the  King 
in  heaven.  Cruelty  and  persecution  have 
smitten  the  Church  of  Christ,  till  hearts 
grew  faint,  and  some  eyes  have  turned  to 


tri?e  (EternttY  of  (Sob.  93 

the  high  dome  above,  expecting  the  stars 
to  whirl  from  their  courses  and  make  a 
"pathway  for  the  coming  Judge."  But  in 
darkest  hours  there  have  not  wanted  those 
whose  faith  rested  serenely  on  the  un- 
shaken throne  of  the  Eternal  God.  His 
patience  is  undisturbed,  to  whom  a  thou- 
sand years  are  but  as  yesterday,  and  whose 
"  Providence  moves  through  time,"  it  has 
been  said,  "as  the  gods  of  Homer  through 
space.  He  makes  a  step,  and  ages  have 
rolled  away." 

Why  not  throw  every  burden  of  life  on 
the  bosom  of  Eternal  Love  ?  Sorrow  and 
loss  rob  us  of  treasure  and  of  joy  —  but 
our  best  friend  is  One,  who,  older  than 
the  everlasting  hills,  abides  unchanged 
when  hills  perish  in  smoke.  Our  Father 
needs  His  children  and  will  call  them 
home.  We  are  to  expect  no  Buddhist's 
heaven,  the  dew-drop  of  life  slipping  at 
last  into  the  "shining  sea"  of  a  passionless 


94  3  Bclter>e  in  ®ob. 

repose,  but  something  infinitely  sweeter 
and  more  ennobling,  even  a  conscious  im- 
mortality. Let  heaven  be  to  you  as 
glorious  as  the  Divine  Word  makes  it, 
and  think  not  that  your  hopes  are  unreal, 
for  the  blissful  mansions,  and  the  golden 
streets,  and  the  far-gleaming  battlements 
of  the  Christian  Zion  all  rest  securely  on, 
the  truth,  and  the  love,  and  the  being  of 
the  Eternal  God. 

And,  thirdly,  this  sublime  attribute  of 
God  is  a  continuous  warning  to  all  wicked- 
ness, disloyalty,  and  unbelief.  Sin  never 
seems  more  presumptuous  than  when 
considered  as  an  affront  to  the  Eter- 
nal God.  It  is  refusing  to  bow  the 
heart  to  the  supremely  Adorable.  It  is 
robbing  God  of  what  is  due  His  infinite 
excellence.  It  is  the  pride  that  prefers 
its  own  way  to  the  counsel  of  the  Everlast- 
ing, who  saith,  *'  Where  wast  thou  when 
I   laid  the  foundations   of  the  earth.?"      It 


tr(?c  (Eternity  of  (Sob.  05 

is  the  audacity  of  an  insect  of  the  hour 
despising  the  ancient  sun  in  the  heavens. 
It  is  the  conceit  of  an  infant  child  seizing 
the  scepter  of  government  from  the  hand 
of  its  reverend  Father  and  King.  It  is 
worshiping  the  things  which  God  hath 
made  more  than  the  Eternal  Creator, 
and  this  is  pouring  contempt  on  Him  be- 
fore whom  the  angels  sing  with  veiled 
faces,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy.  Lord  God  Al- 
mighty, which  was,  and  is,  and  is  to 
come." 

O  how  wicked  and  pitiable  is  the  pride 
which  affronts  God's  eternal  being,  despis- 
ing His  eternal  law,  and  defying  his 
eternal  justice,  and  which  is  certain  to 
be  smitten  by  His  eternal  wrath.  P^or  if 
our  transgressions  have  not  been  covered 
over  by  the  Redeemer's  blood  and  thus 
blotted  from  His  book  of  remembrance, 
then,  as  the  Psalmist  declares,  they  are  all 
set,  even  our  secret  sins,  in  the  light  of  His 


96  3  Bclter>e  in  ^ob. 

countenance  ;  all  the  iniquities  of  the  past 
of  which  we  may  be  oblivious,  all  the  greed 
and  worldliness  which  He  calls  idolatry, 
and  all  the  voluntary  rejection  of  our 
Saviour,  are  set  in  the  light  of  His  face,  to 
whom  a  thousand  years  are  but  as  a  watch 
in  the  night.  There  they  are,  perpetual 
offences  to  His  eternal  holiness,  and  we 
shall  confront  them  and  learn  by  experi- 
ence infinitely  sad  that  God's  warnings  are 
not  idle  words.  When  a  ship  is  sinking  in 
mid-ocean,  and  the  captain  informs  the 
passengers  that  in  an  hour  all  will  be  in 
eternity,  even  hardened  natures  are  im- 
pressed by  that  solemn  word.  The  great 
Welsh  preacher,  Christmas  Evans,  once  be- 
gan a  sermon  in  the  open  fields  before  a 
congregation  of  many  thousands,  by  saying 
over  and  over  again,  the  word  which  in  the 
Welsh  language  is  equivalent  to  eternity, 
a  word  which,  I  am  told,  is  in  that  lan- 
guage   more    sonorous   and  weighty   even 


Cl?e  €tcrnttY  of  ®o6.  97 

than  in  our  own.  "Eternity!"  "Eter- 
nity!" "Eternity!"  he  said  in  slow  and 
solemn  accents,  looking  at  the  great  multi- 
tude which  would  soon  be  beyond  the 
realm  of  earthly  changes,  and  then,  with 
eyes  uplifted  to  heaven  he  spoke  the  word 
"eternity"  thirty  times  over,  until  it 
seemed  that  the  other  world  brought  its 
solemnity  down  upon  the  waiting  multi- 
tude. Men  looked  at  each  other  with  faces 
whitened  by  fear.  Women  sobbed  and 
prayed,  and  hundreds  cried  to  God  to  have 
mercy  on  their  souls !  May  God  make 
that  word  mighty  to  us.  May  God  give 
every  one  of  us  that  vision  of  values  that 
comes  to  the  dying  saint  when  the  breath 
of  eternity  kisses  his  face,  and  he  knows 
that  while  heart  and  flesh  are  failing,  God 
is  the  strength  of  his  heart  and  his  portion 
forever.  Then  he  is  amazed  at  the  folly 
which,  for  a  moment,  could  have  preferred 
the  perishable  trifles  of  earth  to  the  endur- 
7 


98  3  BeltcDC  in  (Sob. 

ing  treasures  of  God,  and  which  in  so 
many,  craves  the  selfish  pleasures  which 
are  like  glittering  baubles,  before  those 
holy  joys  which  are  like  the  durable  dia- 
mond ledges  underlying  the  palaces  of 
eternity.  May  the  Holy  Spirit  lead  each 
one  of  us  unto  Him  who  is  from  everlasting 
to  everlasting,  and  who  hath  revealed  to 
us  redemption  in  Jesus  Christ,  whom  to 
know  aright  is  life  eternal. 


Ct^e  Crutl^  anb  (£omfort  of 


CI^c  Crutt^  anb  (£omfort  of 


Our  Father  7vhich  art  in  Heaven. 
—  Matt.  6:6. 


IN  the  opening  address  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  is  given  a  revelation  of  God 
beyond  which,  in  its  wealth  of  comfort 
and  inspiration,  we  may  not  go.  "  Our 
Father,"  is  the  ultimate  address  of  human- 
ity to  God.  ''AH  knowledge  which  the 
sons  of  men  shall  gather  in  the  cycled 
times"  cannot  add  to  it  a  single  letter  or 
change  to  sweeter  melody  its  enchanting 
syllables.  And  this  disclosure  of  the  divine 
nature  is  an  authoritative  confirmation  of 
the    convictions,    or,   perhaps    more    accu- 

[lOl] 


102  3  Beliepe  in  6ob. 

rately,   of  the   hopes   of  the   human   mind 
apart  from  the  Scriptures. 

Matter  and  motion  point  to  God.  But 
material  elements  and  motions,  however 
marvelous,  furnish  us  no  such  revelation  of 
God  as  is  found  in  mind,  the  spirit  of  man 
that  thinks  and  loves  and  chooses  and 
worships.  *'  Men,"  says  Lowell,  "  go  about 
to  prove  the  existence  of  God.  Was  it  a 
bit  of  phosphorus,  that  brain  (of  Shakes- 
peare) whose  creations  are  so  real  that 
mixing  with  them  we  ourselves  appear  like 
fleeting  magic-lantern  shadows?"  To  an 
undevout  soul  "  this  goodly  frame,  the 
earth,"  may  seem,  as  it  did  to  the  bewil- 
dered Hamlet,  only  a  "  sterile  promon- 
tory." "Even  this  most  excellent  canopy, 
the  air,"  this  majestical  roof,  this  brave 
o'er-hanging  firmament,  fretted  with  golden 
fire,  may  appear  to  a  dulled  sensibility 
only  **  a  foul  and  pestilent  congregation  of 
vapors."   But  even  poor  Hamlet  was  forced 


CF?e  CrutF?  anb  (Eomfort  of  tn?eism.     103 

to  exclaim,  in  admiration,  *'  What  a  piece 
of  work  is  man  !  How  noble  in  reason  ; 
how  infinite  in  faculties  ;  in  form  and  mov- 
ing how  express  and  admirable  ;  in  action, 
how  like  an  angel ;  in  apprehension,  how 
like  a  god  !  "  And  hence  we  are  not  slow 
to  believe  the  ancient  words  attributing 
all  to  Jehovah  :  '*  Thou  hast  crowned  him 
with  glory  and  honor.  Thou  hast  given 
him  dominion  over  the  works  of  Thy 
hands." 

The  tiger  walks  the  Indian  jungle, 
fiercely  conscious  of  power  to  attack 
and  defend.  The  lion  has  his  tooth  and 
terrible  paw  and  is  king  over  beasts.  But 
man  has  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  therefore  all 
obey  him.  The  monsters  crawl  at  his  feet 
subdued.  At  his  touch  great  common- 
wealths and  capitals  of  civilization  spring 
up  from  the  prairie  sod  ;  deserts  become  gar- 
dens, mountains  are  leveled  or  pierced,  con- 
tinents are  girded  with  iron,  and  the  storm- 


104  3  Bcliepe  in  ^ob, 

wind  harnessed  to  his  flying  ships.  He 
moves  his  wand  and  magnetic  wires  mur- 
mur through  a  thousand  leagues  of  sea  the 
intelligible  speech  of  nations.  He  yokes 
the  tides  of  the  moon  to  his  mill-wheel,  and 
bids  the  strong  earth  by  gravitation  turn 
his  million  spindles.  He  magnifies  his 
vision  so  as  to  peer  into  atoms  and  star-  - 
depths.  No  ape  or  elephant  ever  invented 
a  microscope  or  took  out  a  patent  for  a 
steam  engine.  Man  alone  is  lord  over 
nature.  On  him  the  giants  and  the  fairies 
wait.  "  For  him,"  as  the  poet-philosopher 
of  New  England  has  said,  "the  diving-bell 
of  Memory  descends  into  the  deeps  of  our 
past  and  oldest  experience,  and  brings  up 
every  lost  jewel."  For  him  Fancy  "  sends 
up  her  gay  balloon  into  the  sky  to  catch 
every  gleam  and  tint  of  romance."  For 
him  '*  Imagination  turns  every  dull  fact 
into  picture  and  poetry  by  making  it  the 
emblem  of  a  thought."     So  that  every  re- 


Cf}e  Crutf}  anb  Comfort  of  ^(?eism.    105 

splendent  faculty  of  our  intellectual  nature 
becomes  a  shining  finger,  pointing,  not  to 
the  star-dust,  but  to  Him  who  is  enthroned 
above  the  stars,  toward  whom  our  hearts 
are  uplifted  as,  taught  and  inspired  by  the 
Divine  Man  of  Nazareth,  we  cry  out,  in 
filial  adoration,  **  Our  Father  who  art  in 
heaven." 

A  stranger  from  another  world,  alight- 
ing on  our  earth,  and  desiring  to  learn 
something  of  the  character  of  the  king 
who  rules  it,  might  discover  in  the  royal 
gardens  a  time-piece  moved  by  water,  like 
those  contrivances  which  some  of  us  have 
seen  in  Switzerland.  Examining  the 
water-clock,  he  might  learn  something  of 
the  ingenuity  of  the  king  or  the  king's 
servants.  Suppose,  however,  that  the 
king's  own  son  should  appear  to  the  celes- 
tial visitor  and  converse  with  him  about 
this  mysterious  clock,  and  explain  its  mo- 
tions and  speak  of  the  solar  and  sidereal 


106  3  Beltcpe  in  (Sob. 

systems  whose  movements  are  represented 
on  the  face  of  the  dial  ;  and  suppose  that 
from  this,  the  young  prince  should  begin  to 
reason  about  the  origin  of  the  Universe, 
and  should  show  that  his  heart  had  been 
touched  by  the  sublimity  and  beauty  of 
Creation,  and  should  invite  the  angel  to 
kneel  with  him  and  adore  the  Maker  and 
Mover  of  all  things  ;  the  heavenly  stranger 
would  learn  from  this  prince's  mind  indefi- 
nitely more  of  the  king's  nature  than  from 
any  mechanical  contrivance,  however  mar- 
velous. Man  is  the  King's  son  ;  the  curi- 
ous time-piece  is  this  system  of  blazing 
wheels  within  wheels,  which  we  call  Na- 
ture ;  and  his  soul  is  a  nobler  and  completer 
revelation  of  the  Being  of  God  than  all  the 
resplendent  and  revolving  galaxies  of 
the  heavens. 

But  in  the  mind  of  man  we  discover  con- 
science, the  organ  and  executive  of  the 
moral  law,  which  declares  that  right  should 


C^e  Crutl?  anb  Comfort  of  tEf?et5m.    107 

be  chosen  and  wrong  should  be  avoided, — 
which  speaks  to  us  with  a  supremely 
authoritative  voice  :  which,  in  the  presence 
of  every  temptation,  pronounces  a  divine 
negative  that  loses  not  one  whit  of  its 
royal  supremacy  when  mated  with  all  the 
allurements  of  pleasure  which  beguiled 
Ulysses  or  Solomon  ;  and  which,  when  we 
choose  the  right  and  refuse  the  wrong,  stirs 
in  our  hearts  a  feeling  of  the  approval  of 
"  Some  One  above  ourselves  that  makes 
for  righteousness."  What  is  the  meaning 
of  the  moral  law?  If  you  ask  History,  she 
answers,  "God."  Pointing  to  the  smoke  of 
numberless  sacrifices,  she  declares  that  men 
have  deemed  themselves  accountable  to  a 
Supreme  Being,  and  that  the  moral  law  is 
the  source  and  occasion  of  that  greatest 
fact  of  history.  Religion.  If  you  ask  Phil- 
osophy what  it  means,  she  repeats  her  sub- 
lime axiom  that  every  effect  demands  an 
adequate  cause.    The   moral   law  is   a  stu- 


108  3  Bcltepe  in  ^ob. 

pendous  effect,  and  points  together  with  all 
lower  effects,  to  that  Supreme  First  Cause 
for  which,  as  Herbert  Spencer  has  said,  *'  we 
have  more  evidence  than  for  any  other 
truth  whatever."  If  you  make  your  ap- 
peal to  the  moral  sense  itself  when  touched 
by  a  feeling  of  remorse,  you  get  an  answer 
in  the  words  of  penitent  David,  *'  Against 
Thee  and  Thee  only  have  I  sinned." 

Searching  the  nature  of  man  we  discover 
affections  that  hunger  for  a  divine  love  ; 
we  discover  worshiping  instincts  and  as- 
pirations. Now  this  religious  nature,  this 
spiritual  instinct,  is  itself  a  supreme  evi- 
dence of  God's  being,  from  the  fact  that 
if  God  is  not,  the  instinct  is  a  liar's  finger 
pointing  us  toward  darkness  and  nothing- 
ness, when  we  expected  to  find  the  Eter- 
nal Father.  If  there  be  no  God,  then 
falsehood  has  been  planted  in  the  very 
center  of  our  nature.  But  the  presump- 
tion is  against  such  an  hypothesis.     Only 


tEF?c  Crutl?  anb  Comfort  of  C^etsm.    109 

the  most  overwhelming  evidence  could 
satisfy  us  that  this  monstrous  supposition 
is  true,  and  all  the  evidence  points  in  the 
opposite  direction.  The  analogies  of  the 
universe  are  strongly  to  the  effect  that, 
if  there  exist  an  organ  of  knowledge  or 
power,  or  if  there  be  any  need  in  body  or 
mind,  these  have  their  correlates  in  fact, 
in  Nature.  If  you  find  in  the  fossil's  skull 
of  the  megatherium  an  enormous  eye- 
socket,  you  know  that  there  once  existed 
within  that  cavity  an  enormous  eye,  and, 
believing  in  the  existence  of  an  eye,  you 
are  confident  that  far  back  in  the  geologic 
ages  there  was  light  to  correspond  with 
that  eye.  If  you  see  a  bird's  wing  in  a 
museum  of  extinct  animals,  you  know 
there  was  air  on  the  earth  fitted  to  that 
wing's  movements.  From  the  sight  of  a 
fin  you  infer  water.  From  the  roots  of  a 
tree  you  infer  soil  for  them  to  penetrate  ; 
from    the    long,  flexible    claws    of    a   bird. 


no  3  Beliepc  in  (Sob. 

branches  for  them  to  cling  to.  Lungs  im- 
ply an  atmosphere,  feet  a  solid  earth. 
Hunger  points  to  food  and  thirst  to  water. 
The  study  of  nature  is  a  disclosure  of 
correspondences.  Marvelous  are  the  prop- 
erties of  light  and  of  sound,  and  when 
we  remember  that  those  vibrations  in 
the  ether  which  we  call  light,  and  those 
vibrations  in  the  air  which  we  call  sound, 
form  a  language  fitted  to  the  soul  of  man 
and  speaking  to  it  in  Beethoven's  sym- 
phonies and  Michael  Angelo's  frescoes,  in 
the  martial  airs  of  patriotism  and  in  the 
splendors  of  Raphael's  pencilings,  in  the 
song  of  the  bird  and  the  beauty  of 
the  lily,  in  the  thunder  of  the  cataract 
and  in  the  pensive  loveliness  of  a  New 
England  landscape  bathed  in  the  dreamy 
light  of  October,  in  the  glory  of  the  sun- 
kissed  waves  and  in  the  "undying  baritone 
of  the  sea,"  ministering  to  human  love  and 
reverence,  suggesting  thoughts  of  joy  and 


C(?e  Crutf?  anb  (Eomfort  of  Cf^etsm.    Ill 

sadness,  exalting  the  heart  to  courage  or 
quieting  it  with  tenderness,  or  sending  it 
upward  in  strong-winged  aspiration  toward 
heaven,  we  are  confident  that  one  God 
created  the  soul  and  these  multitudinous 
and  almost  spiritual  agencies  which  minis- 
ter to  its  life.  It  would  seem  that  Nature 
is  a  continual  response  to  the  spirit  of 
man,  that  she  never  makes  an  organ  or 
creates  a  need  without  supplying  its  cor- 
relate. Man  has  a  desire  for  power,  here 
is  the  earth  for  him  to  subdue  ;  he  has  a 
desire  for  knowledge,  here  is  the  Universe 
for  him  to  study  ;  he  has  a  sense  of  the 
beautiful,  and  lo  !  on  every  hand  the  fairy 
fingers  of  Nature  have  wrought  in  gor- 
geous dyes  and  finest  fabrics  the  miracles 
of  beauty  which  the  aesthetic  instinct 
needs. 

Man  is  a  creature  with  affections,  and 
behold  the  many  objects  on  which,  they 
fasten  ;  father,  mother,  wife,  children,  home. 


112  3  Beliere  in  ^ob. 

country,  humanity.  But  man  is  also  and 
above  all  a  worshiping  being,  and  shall 
he  be  cheated  here,  in  the  very  sanctuary 
and  palace  of  his  soul  ?  Is  every  other 
faculty  true  and  correspondent  with  the 
nature  of  things,  and  this  supreme  faculty 
a  lie,  pointing  only  to  illusion  and  false- 
hood ?  The  construction  of  the  world 
argues  no,  and  with  all  its  force  asserts 
that,  if  there  be  a  worshiping  instinct 
there  must  be  that  which  it  requires.  If 
man  is  a  religious  being,  there  must  be 
One  supremely  adorable  ;  if  man  is  terri- 
fied before  a  broken  moral  law  and  rears 
an  altar  and  puts  upon  it  an  expiatory 
sacrifice,  there  must  be  Some  One,  not 
himself  and  above  himself,  toward  whom 
the  moral  law  is  pointing.  If  humanity, 
with  all  its  sorrows  and  its  baffled  hopes 
and  undefined  longings,  is  needing  an 
infinite  Father  to  soothe  and  satisfy,  and  is 
feeling   after    Him    if    haply    it    may   find 


trf?e  Crutl)  anb  Comfort  of  tlf^eism.    113 

Him,  even  as  a  hungry  child  in  the  dark- 
ness cries  for  food  and  light,  then  there 
must  be  an  Infinite  Father  with  whom  is 
food  for  love,  and  in  whom  is  light  for  the 
soul. 

Thus  Christ's  revelation  comes  in  to  re-in- 
force  the  best  convictions  of  men  and  satisfy 
their  deepest  wants.  The  need  of  God,  and 
of  such  a  God  as  Jesus  reveals,  is  so  funda- 
mental that  you  must  almost  unmake 
human  nature  itself  to  destroy  its  latent 
faith  in  a  Divine  Someone  who  is  able  to 
right  human  wrong  and  to  console  human 
grief.  Much  of  the  so-called  culture  of  our 
time  is  an  effort  to  eliminate  God  from 
human  consciousness  by  fixing  the  mind 
on  second  causes,  and  by  vainly  endeavor- 
ing to  satisfy  the  human  heart  with  the 
thought  of  its  own  possible  development 
in  moral  excellence,  even  though  life  ends 
with  the  grave.  One  distinguished  man 
has  left  us  an  autobiography  which  is  the 


114  3  'Bdkvz  in  ©06. 

story  of  an  attempt  to  eradicate  God  from 
the  human  soul.  I  scarcely  know  of  a 
sadder  or  a  more  instructive  book.  It  is 
only  a  few  years  since  this  great  English- 
man, John  Stuart  Mill,  went  down  to 
his  grave,  leaving  us  an  account  of 
his  lifelong  education.  A  political  econo- 
mist, the  first  of  his  age,  a  logician  equal 
to  the  greatest,  a  parliamentary  debater, 
an  advocate  of  liberty,  a  friend  of  our  own 
country  in  her  mortal  struggle  for  exist- 
ence, with  a  generous  and  heroic  nature, 
cultivated  beyond  most  men  of  his  time, 
John  Stuart  Mill  is  doubtless  a  man  worth 
studying,  a  modern  man,  our  contempo- 
rary, living  a  fruitful,  unselfish,  and  high- 
minded  life.  If  we  look  into  his  career,  let 
our  examination  be  without  any  prejudices 
because  he  rejected  the  Christian  faith  and 
stoutly  opposed  many  of  our  most  cher- 
ished convictions.  Let  it  be  with  tolerant 
sympathy  and  a  candid  desire  to  know 
whether  the  need   of   God  is  any    part  of 


tEl^e  Crutl?  anb  Comfort  of  Cf?eism.    115 

human  nature.  If  I  wished  to  assail  unbe- 
lief in  its  strongholds,  I  would  use  the 
Autobiography  of  John  Stuart  Mill.  No 
sensitive  man  can  read  the  sad  story  with- 
out crying,  "O  God,  save  me  from  despair." 
I  am  not  disposed  to  belittle  this  great 
antagonist  of  Christian  philosophy,  but 
rather  to  exalt  him.  There  are  enough 
embittered  polemics  that  hate  his  name. 
The  organized  wrong  of  England  always 
hated  him.  Toryism  bellowed  and  brayed 
over  his  coffin,  as  it  has  bellowed  and 
brayed  over  the  reverses  of  many  great 
men,  from  Milton  to  Gladstone.  Let 
us  not  walk  in  these  ways  of  bitterness. 
True  wisdom  seeks  out  the  path  of  charity, 
"which  the  lion's  whelp  has  not  trodden 
nor  the  vulture's  eye  seen."  I  am  willing 
to  learn  much  from  John  Stuart  Mill, 
remembering  his  own  maxim  that  "  none 
is  more  likely  to  see  what  you  do  not,  than 
he  who  does  not  see  what  you  do."  This 
man  investigated  truth  with  the  boldness 


116  3  Bcltcrc  in  ^ob. 

of  Socrates  and  carried  into  public  life  a 
conscientious  independence  as  royal  as 
Charles  Sumner's.  He  was  true  to  God  in 
conscience,  though  to  him  it  was  an  un- 
known God.  If  I  viewed  only  one  aspect 
of  this  life,  I  should  almost  be  a  devotee  of 
this  great  man,  who  has  been  described  as 
a  '*  marvelous  compound  of  intellect  and 
feeling,  of  chivalry  and  logic  ;  the  pene- 
trating genius  of  Pascal  and  the  generous 
heart  of  Fenelon,  Adam  Smith  and  Bayard, 
Aristotle  and  Petrarch  in  one." 

Coming  now  to  his  life,  as  told  by  him- 
self, we  recall  that  his  father,  James  Mill, 
author  of  the  ''  History  of  British  India," 
was  a  man  who  came  to  disbelieve  Chris- 
tian doctrine,  and  who  held  that  nothing 
could  be  known  of  the  origin  of  things. 
This  forceful  and  accomplished  man  re- 
solved to  train  his  eldest  son,  John  Stuart 
Mill,  in  accordance  with  his  own  very 
positive  ideas.     You    may  remember  that, 


d?e  (£rut(?  anb  Comfort  of  tEF^etsm.     117 

at  the  age  of  three,  the  boy  was  set  to 
learning  Greek,  and  that  before  he  was 
ten,  his  father  had  seen  him  read  far  more 
Greek  than  is  required  of  the  graduates  of 
American  universities.  He  began  Latin 
at  eight,  and  in  four  years  had  read  the 
masterpieces  of  Roman  literature,  besides 
writing  a  history  of  Roman  law  that  would 
make  an  octavo  volume.  His  English 
reading  up  to  this  time  was  enormous,  his 
father  supervising  all  his  studies  and  ex- 
plaining the  reasons  for  every  task  re- 
quired, and  to  his  father  the  boy  recounted 
the  substance  of  his  investigations,  so  that 
knowledge  was  remorselessly  drilled  into 
him.  He  was  kept  from  companionship 
with  children,  and  shut  up  with  men  and 
books,  so  that  he  early  became  a  **  reason- 
ing machine." 

James  Mill  took  conscientious  care  that 
his  son  should  acquire  his  own  convictions 
concerning  religion.     The  belief  in  a  per- 


118  3BeItepe  in  (Sob. 

sonal  God  was  never  permitted  to  develop 
in  his  mind.  It  was  resolutely  repressed, 
"I  am  thus,"  said  John  Stuart  Mill,  *' one 
of  the  few  examples  in  this  country  of  one 
who  has  never  thrown  off  a  religious  be- 
lief, but  never  had  it.  I  grew  up  in  a 
negative  state  in  regard  to  it.  I  looked 
upon  modern,  as  I  did  upon  all  ancient 
religion,  as  something  which  in  no  way 
concerned  me."  In  his  Autobiography  he 
never  refers  to  his  mother,  and  it  would 
seem  that  no  impressions  were  allowed  to 
come  from  her.  He  was  to  be  trained  ra- 
tionally, and  by  his  father's  rigorous  hand. 
A  motherless  childhood  !  Do  you  wonder 
that  it  ushered  in  a  godless  manhood  ? 
When  we  think  of  St.  Monica's  prayers 
for  her  son  Augustine,  when  we  think  of 
the  pious  petitions  of  the  mothers  of 
Wesley  and  Washington,  we  believe  that 
in  the  mind  of  God  they  outweighed  the 
hard  philosophies  of  James  Mill. 


trF?e  ^vuil}  anb  Comfort  of  Cl?etsm.    119 

And  yet  moral  instruction  was  earnestly 
given  to  our  young  scholar.  His  favorite 
book  through  life  was  the  *'  Reflections  of 
Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus,"  the  Roman 
Stoic  emperor.  He  learned  to  scorn  all 
baseness  and  insincerity.  The  time  came, 
however,  when  Mill's  self-education  began, 
and  when,  instead  of  the  iron  hand  of  his 
father,  was  his  own  independent  choice. 
And  after  years  of  sharp  contact  with  the 
best  minds  of  England,  after  long  courses 
of  intellectual  discipline  which  were  se- 
verer than  any  athlete's  training  fof  phys- 
sical  contests,  there  came  a  crisis  in  his 
mental  history.  He  began  to  ask,  ''  For 
what  is  all  this  culture  ?  What  is  the  pur- 
pose of  these  efforts  for  the  public  good  ? 
Suppose  that  you  attain  all  that  you  are 
seeking,  will  you  be  satisfied.?"  He  an- 
swered, "No."  "The  whole  foundation  on 
which  my  life  was  constructed  fell  down." 
He  says,  "  I  seemed  to  have  nothing  left 


120  3  Beliepe  in  ®o6. 


to  live  for."  "  In  vain  I  sought  relief  in  my 
favorite  books  ;  I  became  persuaded  that 
my  love  of  mankind  and  of  moral  excellence 
for  its  own  sake  had  worn  itself  out  ; "  and 
then  he  adds  these  suggestive  words  :  "  If 
I  had  loved  any  one  sufficiently  to  make 
confiding  my  griefs  a  necessity,  I  should 
not  have  been  in  the  condition  I  was."  I 
cannot  help  remembering  that  the  Apostle 
Paul's  love  for  mankind  and  for  moral  ex- 
cellence never  seemed  to  himself  worn  out, 
because  his  heart  had  been  touched  by 
God's  heart  on  the  Cross,  and  for  him  to 
live  was  Christ.  It  makes  a  vast  difference 
with  man's  outlook  into  life  whether  or  not 
he  has  received  the  New  Testament  revela- 
tion of  the  divine  nature  as  love. 

If  love  is  the  divine  artificer  and  gov- 
ernor of  the  material,  mental,  and  moral 
universe  ;  if  that  blessed  name  describes 
the  heart  of  the  Almighty  who  awes  us 
by  the  sublimity  of  his  creations  ;  if  love  is 


Ct)e  CrutI)  anb  domfort  of  ^(^eism.    121 

the  nature  of  that  Being  whose  continual 
activity  in  the  marvels  of  earth  and  sea 
and  sky  is  the  life-long  study  of  the  natu- 
ralist, the  mathematician,  and  the  astrono- 
mer ;  if  this  infinite  cosmos  is  the  home 
of  an  ever-present  benevolence,  and  the 
palpitating  ether  throbs  from  star  to  star 
with  the  onflowingand  everflowing  billows 
of  love  ;  if  this  precious  and  peculiar  grace 
which  makes  what  joy  we  know  on  earth, 
has  been  enthroned  in  the  royalty  of  su- 
preme and  eternal  dominion  over  force 
and  law,  over  the  motions  of  spheres  and 
the  mutations  of  time,  over  national  and 
individual  life,  over  our  birth  and  discipline 
and  toils  and  griefs,  over  our  homes  and  our 
graves,  our  present  and  our  future  ;  if  all 
the  altars  built  to  the  unknown  God  have 
been  unconsciously  offering  incense  to  this 
innermost  and  sublimest  attribute  of  deity  ; 
if  the  divine  Some  One  whom  Socrates 
and    Plato    revered,    and    Eastern    poets 


122  3  Beliepe  in  ®ob. 

worshiped  on  Persian  hilltops,  rosy  with 
the  streamers  of  the  dawn,  is  best  named 
in  the  language  of  the  Asiatic  peasant 
who  wrote  so  confidently  that  ''  God  is 
love,"  then  we  have  a  truth  and  a  treasure 
which  cheapens  the  learning  of  proud  uni- 
versities and  the  diadems  of  prouder  kings. 
Had  the  soul  of  John  Stuart  Mill  been 
open,  not  only  to  the  riches  of  human 
thought,  but  to  the  sight  of  God's  personal 
love,  no  such  plaint  as  he  has  recorded 
would  have  broken  from  his  heart. 

But  he  escaped  from  his  father's  narrow- 
ness and  set  resolutely  to  work  to  cultivate 
the  neglected  part  of  his  nature,  the  feel- 
ings. From  Christian  sources,  yet  having 
no  Christian  faith,  he  fed  his  emotiona' 
nature.  He  became  the  associate  of  Cole- 
ridge and  of  John  Stirling,  of  Carlyle  and 
of  Frederick  D.  Maurice,  *'of  all  God's  men 
late  left,  the  most  divine ! "  He  even 
learned  to  love  the  poetry  of  Wordsworth, 


CI}e  CrutI?  anb  Comfort  of  ^(^eism.   123 

who,  more  than  any  other  modern,  per- 
ceived and  felt  the  presence  of  God  in 
Nature.  Thus,  to  a  degree,  the  frozen 
music  in  this  logical  machine  was  thawed 
out.  He  came  to  feel  that  he  might  re- 
cover from  his  depression  and  despair  by- 
living  for  others.  We  are  not  surprised 
to  find  him  a  chivalrous  apostle  of  the 
oppressed,  filled  with  enthusiasm  for  hu- 
manity. Let  no  one  think  it  a  discredit 
to  the  Christian  Gospel  that  the  life  of 
this  unbeliever  was  a  prolonged  devotion 
to  human  welfare,  for  enthusiasm  for  man 
is  the  living  inspiration  of  Christianity, 
and  Stuart  Mill  was  unconsciously  the 
child  of  eighteen  Christian  centuries,  "  the 
heir  to  old  Judea's  gift  of  sacred  fire," 
'  living  in  an  atmosphere  permeated  with 
Christian  thought.  In  his  heart  there  was 
that  which  paganism  did  not  teach  him. 
Unwittingly  this  student  of  the  heathen 
emperor,    Marcus    Aurelius,    became    the 


124  3  Beltepc  in  (Sob. 

disciple  of  the  Nazarene  Jesus.  A  man 
often  walks  in  the  cold  light  of  the  Octo- 
ber moon  with  no  grateful  thought  of  the 
sun  whose  reflected  splendor  silvers  the 
autumn  fields.  So  Mill  had  much  of  the 
light  of  Christianity,  without  its  personal 
warmth  and  consolation.  He  cherished 
bright  hopes  for  humanity,  but  none  for 
individual  men.  These  hopes  for  the  race, 
however,  are  the  gifts  of  Christianity. 
Paganism  ever  faces  the  past,  and  dreams 
of  a  golden  age  far  back  in  the  twilight 
of  history.  The  Gospel  of  Christ  faces 
the  future,  and  points  to  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth  ''with  joy  and  love  tri- 
umphing and  fair  truth."  Without  Chris- 
tianity, Stuart  Mill,  hopeless  for  himself 
and  the  individual,  might  also  have  been 
hopeless  for  the  race,  and  we  should  think 
of  him  as  a  stony  sphinx,  guarding  the 
dull,  gray  pyramid  of  a  worn-out  past,  and 
not  as  a  westward-looking  prophet  whose 


C{?e  CrutI)  anb  Comfort  of  CF?ctsm.    125 

mind,  though  half-illumined,  still  thronged 
"  with  shining  auguries, 
Circle  on  circle,  bright  as  seraphim, 
With  golden  trumpets  silent,  that  await 
The  signal  to  blow  news  of  good  to  men." 

We  come  now  to  the  final  stage  of  Mill's 
culture,  and  having  seen  his  young  mind 
thoroughly  emptied  of  God,  having  seen 
him  cherishing  great  hopes  for  the  world, 
though  none  for  individuals,  and  having 
heard  him  confessing  the  need  of  a  su- 
preme affection,  we  are  not  suprised  at  this 
latest  development.  In  1830,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-four,  he  began  a  friendship,  which 
he  calls  "the  honor  and  chief  blessing  of 
his  existence,  as  well  as  the  source  of  a 
great  part  of  all  he  attempted  to  do  or 
hoped  to  effect  thereafter  for  human  im- 
provement." He  was  introduced  to  the  lady, 
who  after  twenty  years  of  friendship,  be- 
came, on  the  death  of  her  husband,  his 
wife.     She  was  not  deemed  a  remarkable 


126  3  Bcltere  in  (Sob. 

woman  by  others,  but  with  more  than  the 
usual  enthusiasm  of  love,  John  Stuart  Mill 
believed  that  he  had  found  in  her  a  com- 
bination of  all  the  finest  qualities  he  had 
known  in  the  greatest  men.  This  cool- 
headed  philosopher  deliberately  writes  that 
she  was  "more  of  a  poet  than  Carlyle"  and 
''more  of  a  thinker  than  himself."  "Her 
mind  included  Carlyle's,"  and,  he  adds, 
"infinitely  more."  He  devoutly  believed 
her  to  be  possessed  of  the  qualities,  in- 
tellectual and  moral,  of  a  "  consummate 
artist,  a  great  orator,  an  eminent  ruler  and 
spiritual  leader  of  mankind."  In  her  "  the 
strongest  justice  was  linked  with  boundless 
generosity  and  lovingness  ; "  "the  most 
genuine  modesty  was  combined  with  the 
loftiest  pride."  "Her  sincerity  and  sim- 
plicity were  absolute,"  and  Mill  says  that 
his  intellectual  indebtedness  to  her  was 
"almost  infinite."  He  detected  no  flaw 
in  the    perfection   of  her  wisdom   and   no 


CI?e  tErutf?  anb  domfort  of  tTf^eism.    127 

slightest  stain  on  the  beauty  of  her  char- 
acter.    For   her  he   scorned    the    scorn   of 
English  society,   and,   though  pure  as  the 
day,    neglected    its    usages.      To    her    this 
positive   philosopher   gave   himself  with  a 
devotion  as  fervent  as  was  ever  given  to 
the  Virgin  Mary.     Of  her  he  writes  almost 
as  St.  John  might  have  written  of  the  Lord 
Christ.     Who   can  read  without   astonish- 
ment, and  almost  without  tears,  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  Essay  on  Liberty!    ''To  the 
beloved  and  deplored  memory  of  her  who 
was  the  inspirer  and  in  part  the  author  of 
all  that  is  best  in  my  writings,  the  friend 
and  wife  whose  exalted  sense  of  truth  and 
right   was    my    strongest    incitement,    and 
whose  approbation  was  my  chief  reward, 
I   dedicate   this   volume.  .   .    .   Were  I  but 
capable  of  interpreting  to  the  world  one- 
half  the  great  thoughts  and  noble  feelings 
which  are  buried  in  her  grave,  I  should  be 
the  medium  of  a  greater  benefit  to  it  than 


128  3  Belicpc  in  ©ob. 

is  ever  likely  to  arise  from  anything  that 
I  can  write  unprompted  and  unassisted  by 
her  all  but  unrivaled  wisdom." 

In  185 1,  Stuart  Mill  was  married  to  this 
idol  in  whose  mind  he  could  **  detect  no 
mixture  of  error."  For  seven  and  a  half 
years  the  devotee  and  his  saint  belonged 
to  each  other,  and  then  she  was  taken  to 
the  God  in  whom  she  also  did  not  believe.. 
''For  seven  and  a  half  years,"  says  the 
Autobiography,  "  that  blessing  was  mine  ; 
for  seven  and  a  half  only.  I  can  say 
nothing  which  could  describe,  even  in  the 
faintest  manner,  what  that  loss  was  and  is. 
But  because  I  know  that  she  would  have 
wished  it,  I  endeavor  to  make  the  best  of 
what  life  I  have  left,  and  work  on  for  her 
purposes  with  such  diminished  strength  as 
may  be  derived  from  thoughts  of  her 
and  communion  with  her  memory."  That 
memory  became  his  religion.  She  had 
been  laid  to  rest  in  the  south  of  France, 


C(?e  ^rutf}  anb  Comfort  of  Cf?ctsm.    129 

in  sunny  Avignon,  and  year  after  year 
this  remorseless  logician  went  thither  and 
wept  over  her  grave.  Amid  the  cypress 
trees  he  walked,  and  looking  vainly  to  the 
east  and  the  west,  the  north  and  the  south, 
he  cried  an  exceeding  great  and  bitter  cry, 
that  seems  an  echo  of  Mary's  voice  from 
the  garden  :  ''  They  have  taken  away  my 
Lord,  and  I  know  not  where  they  have 
laid  Him." 

You  ask  me,  What  does  all  this  mean  ? 
It  means  that  John  Stuart  Mill's  heart  had 
revenged  itself;  that  he  who  had  no  God 
to  love  had  clothed  with  divine  perfections 
a  creature  of  God  and  worshiped  that. 
And  is  there  anything  sadder  than  this  ? 
A  chivalrous  soul,  blind  to  God,  gives  its 
great  affections  to  one  human  being,  whom 
love  deified,  and  losing  her,  cares  to  live 
only  because  she  wished  it,  and  derives 
strength  only  from  communion  with  her 
memory !  A  son  of  God  living  on  the 
9 


130  3  Beltepe  in  ^ob. 

recollection  of  a  brief  gladness  that  could 
never  return,  for  no  flower  of  hope  bloomed 
on  the  sunny  grave  in  Avignon.  "  Truly 
if  in  this  life  only  we  have  hope,  we  are  of 
all  men  most  miserable."  Many  a  martyr 
going  to  the  stake  repeating  the  words  of 
the  Son  of  Mary,  **  I  am  the  Resurrection 
and  the  Life,"  is  far  less  pitiable  than  this 
blight-smitten  philosopher  without  God 
and  hence  without  hope  in  the  world. 
"Among  those  born  of  women"  in  these 
latter  days,  there  has  scarcely  risen  a 
greater  than  John  Stuart  Mill.  Neverthe- 
less in  privilege  and  hope,  **  he  who  is 
least  in  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  greater 
than  he." 

Mill's  broken  heart  might  have  envied 
the  faith  in  God  which  has  made  the  cabin 
of  many  a  dying  slave  the  vestibule  of 
immortality.  Had  not  the  great  logician 
met  a  logic  sterner  than  his  own,  that  of 
Death  ?     Does    not    human    need   equalize 


^{}e  (Ltnil}  anb  Comfort  of  tEF^eism.    131 

all  and  demonstrate  religion  ?  It  has  been 
said  that  "  the  theorizing-  of  ages  is  com- 
pressed as  in  a  seed,  in  the  momentary 
want  of  a  single  mind."  And  who  of  us 
could  stand  with  the  despairing  philoso- 
pher by  that  grave  in  Southern  France, 
without  praying  that  his  heart  might  open 
to  David's  God  who  never  dies  and  who 
alone  satisfieth  the  longing  soul  ?  The  life 
which  began  without  God  ended  without 
Him.  A  deified  friend  assumed  the  place 
of  Jehovah,  except  that  the  one  faded  as  a 
leaf,  while  the  other  is  from  everlasting  to 
everlasting.  And  I  cannot  point  to  this 
nineteenth  century  argument  for  the  truth 
and  comfort  of  Christian  theism  without  a 
vain  regret  that  Mill  had  not  omitted  a  few 
volumes  of  Greek  and  Roman  history  from 
his  father's  library  and  early  learned  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  "  at  that  best  Academe,  a 
mother's  knee,"  for  then  his  life  might  have 
ended   with    Paul's,   Milton's,  Bunsen's,  at 


132  3  Beltcpe  in  ^06, 

the  sapphire  gates  of  the  New  Jerusalem, 
and  not  in  despair  at  the  marble  jaws  of  a 
sepulcher. 

The  foremost  need  of  every  soul  is  to 
accept  in  full  confidence  Christ's  revelation 
of  God.  We  who  say  *' Our  Father"  must 
also  add,  ''Hallowed  be  Thy  Name,  Thy 
Kingdom  come,  Thy  will  be  done."  God 
is.  Everything  affirms  that.  He  is  near 
to  us.  The  moral  law  declares  that.  He 
is  our  Father,  Christ  has  revealed  it.  Our 
hearts  know  it.  We  need  Him.  Our  lives 
tell  us  that.  Then  why  not  speak  to  Him, 
asking  His  help  and  pity  and  pardon  ? 
Why  not  go  in  every  doubt  and  darkness 
to  Him  who  is  the  light  itself.^  Is  it  any 
dishonor  to  seek  wisdom  from  Him  to 
whom  prayer  has  been  offered  by  Dante 
and  Copernicus,  Kepler  and  Pascal,  Sir 
Isaac  Newton  and  Linnaeus  and  Faraday  ? 
I  seem  yet  to  see  on  an  island-shore  a 
great  man's  head  bowed   in  prayer.      He 


Cf}e  tlrutl?  anb  (Eomfort  of  Cl^etsm.     133 

is  no  common  mind.  "  To  be  in  his  pres- 
ence an  hour,"  it  was  said  of  him,  "was  to 
gain  the  strongest  argument  for  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul."  A  great  poet  has 
pictured  his  "  forehead  high  and  round,  a 
cairn  which  every  science  helped  to  build." 
It  is  Agassiz  with  his  pupils  about 
him,  the  master  and  his  school,  standing 
before  Nature.  This  man  is  no  fanatic. 
The  ages  of  human  culture  roll  their  wealth 
to  his  feet  as  the  Atlantic  rolls  its  tides. 
His  life's  study  has  been  matter,  but  he 
knows  with  Lord  Bacon  that  mind  is  be- 
hind it.  He  has  watched  the  miracle  of 
moving  life  in  star-fish  and  eagle.  And  he 
knows  with  his  master  Aristotle,  that  all 
motion  has  its  origin  in  will.  And  there 
he  stands,  child  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
on  the  Ocean's  shore. 

«•  Over  rock  and  isle  and  glistening  bay 
Falls  the  beautiful  white  day." 


134  3  BcUcDC  in  ^ob. 

The  master  is  about  to  speak  to  his 
scholars.  Will  he  say,  *'  Study  Nature, 
trusting  to  yourselves,  leaving  all  super- 
stition behind  you.  God  is  unknown  and 
unknowable  "  ? 

"Said  the  Master  to  the  youth, 
We  have  come  in  search  of  truth, 
Trying  with  uncertain  key 
Door  by  door  of  mystery ; 
We  are  reaching  through  His  laws 
To  the  garment-hem  of  cause. 
Him,  the  endless,  unbegun. 
The  Unnameable,  the  One 
Light  of  all  our  light  the  source, 
Life  of  life,  and  force  of  force. 
By  past  efforts  unavailing. 
Doubt  and  error,  loss  and  failing. 
Of  our  weakness  made  aware, 
On  the  threshold  of  our  task 
Let  us  light  and  guidance  ask. 
Let  us  pause  in  silent  prayer. 
Then  the  Master  in  his  place. 
Bowed  his  head  a  little  space, 


tri^e  Crut(}  anb  Comfort  of  ^l^etsm.    135 

And  the  leaves,  by  soft  airs  stirred, 
Lapse  of  wave  and  cry  of  bird. 
Left  the  solemn  hush  unbroken 
Of  that  wordless  prayer  unspoken. 
While  its  wish  on  earth  unsaid 
Rose  to  heaven  interpreted." 

Agassiz  is  dead,  but  flowers  of  hope 
bloom  about  the  rough  Alpine  boulder 
which  marks  his  grave  in  Mount  Auburn, 
flowers  which  blossom  not  above  that 
grave  in  Southern  France.  But  being 
dead  he  yet  speaketh,  speaketh  of  a  life 
beyond,  in  which  he  believed,  and  of  which 
his  great  spirit  was  a  prophecy. 

"  In  the  lap  of  sheltering  seas 
Rests  the  Isle  of  Penikese ; 
But  the  lord  of  the  domain 
Comes  not  to  his  own  again  : 
Where  the  eyes  that  follow,  fail. 
On  a  vaster  sea  his  sail 
Drifts  beyond  our  beck  and  hail ; 


136  3  Beltepe  in  (Sob. 


But  one  name  forevermore 
Shall  be  uttered  o  'er  and  o  'er 
By  the  waves  which  kiss  that  shore. 
Thither  love  shall  tearful  turn, 
Friendship  pause  uncovered  there, 
And  the  wisest  reverence  learn 
From  the  Master's  silent  prayer." 


Fruitless  is  all  knowledge  if  it  does  not 
lead  us  in  adoration  or  in  penitence  to  our 
knees.  The  knowledge  of  God  is  a  terror 
and  despair,  if  his  children  may  not  speak 
to  Him.  We  have  ascended  the  golden 
steps  which  lead  to  our  Father's  threshold  ; 
let  us  entreat  Him  to  open  the  door  that 
his  glory  may  smite  our  faces.  Let  us 
seek  His  mercy,  lest  when  His  anger  is 
kindled  but  a  little,  we  be  utterly  con- 
sumed. Let  all  who  believe  that  God  is, 
test  Him  now  and  henceforth  ifHeheareth 
and  answereth  prayer. 


CI}e  Crutl?  anb  Comfort  of  tlE^etsm.     137 

"  For  what  are  men  better  than  sheep  or  goats 
That  nourish  a  bhnd  hfe  within  the  brain, 
If,  knowing  God,  they  Hft  not  hands  of  prayer 
Both  for  themselves  and  those  who  call  them  friend? 
For  so  the  whole  round  world  is  every  way 
Bound  by  gold  chains  about  the  feet  of  God." 


The  New  Enlarged  and  Authorized  Edition  of  a  Remarlcabie  Worlr. 

THK  CHRISTIAN'S 

SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE.' 


This  Work,  the  demand  for  which 
has  been  so  great  as  to  wear  out  two 
sets  of  plates,  has  now  been  put  in 
entirely  new  form.  The  book  hav- 
ing become  an  accepted  classic  in  de- 
votional literature,  it  was  thought 
wise  to  issue  this  new  edition  in  a 
compact  form,  and  in  a  variety  of 
bindings.  Occasion  has  also  been 
taken  by  the  author  to  thoroughlyre- 
vise  the  whole  work,  besides  adding 
considerable  new  matter. 


Few  Books  of  a  Religious  Character  have  been 
accorded  such  Hearty  and  Universal  En- 
dorsement from  all  Denominations. 

*•  To  commend  this  work  would  seem  almost  superfluous; 
and  yet  to  young  Christians  who  may  not  know  it,  we  can- 
not refrain  from  saying,  Buy  this  book,  and  keep  it  with 
your  Bible  for  constant  study,  until  you  have  thoroughly- 
mastered,  in  your  own  experience,  the  *  secret '  of  which  it 
tells.  It  will  transform  the  dark  days  of  your  life,  as  it 
has  transformed  those  of  thousands  before  you,  into  days 
of  heavenly  light."— iVe^^  York  Evangelist. 

"We  have  not  for  years  read  a  book  with  more  delight 
and  profit.  The  authov  has  a  rich  experience,  and  tells  it 
in  a  plain  and  delightful  manner. 


■Christian  Advocate. 


85 


The  "  Handy  Classic  Edition."    l8mo,  292  pages  as  follows : 

Each  in  separate  box,  gilt  edge,  round  corners,  except  JNo.  d. 
No,  8,  Persian  Calf,  Broken 

Glass  Pattern $1  75 

10,  Calf,  plain 2  00 

12,   Best  German    Calf 

Embossed 2  25 

14,  Best    German    Calf 

Padded 2  50 


No.  3,  Cloth,  full  gilt  edges.. $ 
4,  French  Morocco,  Seal 

Grain 1  50 

6,  French  Morocco,  Rus- 

tic Gold  Bands 1  50 

7,  White  Enamel,  Easter 

or  Wedding  Edition.  1  50 

The  "Standard  Edition."     12mo  240  pages  as  follows: 

No.  01    Paper  covers 50  i  No.  02    Cloth,  fine  .— 75 

No.  03    Cloth,  full  gilt  edges 100 

WW  voRK.:;  Fleming  H.  ReVell  Company  ::  Chicago. 


Works  of  D.  L  MOODY. 


"By  the  strenuous  cultivation  of 
his  gift  Mr.  Moody  has  attained 
to  a  clear  and  incisive  style  which 
preachers  ought  to  study;  and  he 
has  the  merit,  which  many  more 
cultivated  n.en  lack,  of  saying 
nothing  that  does  not  tend  to  the 
enforcement  of  the  particular 
truth  he  is  enunciating.  He 
knows  how  to  disencumber  his 
text  of  all  extraneous  matter,  and 
exhibits  his  wisdom  as  a  preacher 
hardly  less  by  what  he  leaves  out 
than  by  what  he  includes.  Apart 
from  its  primary  purpose  each  of 
these  books  has  a  distinct  value 
as  a  lesson  on  homiletics  to  min  - 
isters  and  students." — 

The  Christian  Leader. 


SOVEREIGN  GRACE. 
BIBLE  CHARACTERS. 

PREVAILING  PRAYER;  WHAT  HINDERS  IT.    30th  Thousand. 
TO  THE  WORK!    TO  THE  WORK  !    A  Trumpet  Call.    30th  Thousand. 
THE  WAY  TO  GOD  AND  HOW  TO  FIND  IT.    105th  Thousand. 
HEAVEN;    its  Hope  ;   its  Inhabitants;  its  Rpppines' ,   its  Riches  ;  its 

Reward.     125th  Thousand. 
SECRET  POWER ;   or,  the  Secret  of  Success  in  Christian  Life  and 

Woriv.    72d  Thousand. 

T'JWELVn  SELECT  SERMONS.     165th  Thousand. 

The  above  are  bound  in  uniform  style  and  price.  Paper  coversj 
30  cerfls;  cloth,  60  cents.  Also  the  eight  books  are  bound  in  four 
volumes.     Price  of  Set,  in  neat  box,  $4.00. 


DANIEL,  THE  PROPHET.     10th  Thousand.    Paper  cover,  20c.;  cloth, 
40c. 

THE  FULL  ASSURANCE  OF  FAITH,    7th  Thousand.    Some  thoughts 
on  Christian  confidence.      Paper  cover,  15c.;  cloth,  25c. 

THE  WAY  AND  THE  WORD.     65th  Thousand.     Comprising  "  Regen- 
eration," and  "  How  to  Study  the  Bible."  Cloth,  25c.;  paper,  15c. 

HOW  TO  STUDY  THE  BIBLE.  45th  Thousand.   Cloth,  15c.;  paper,  10c! 

THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST.    45th  Thousand.      Paper,  10c. 

INQUIRY  MEETINGS.     By  Mr.  Moody  and  Maj.  Whittle.  Paper,   15c. 

GOSPEL  BOOKLETS.     By  D.  L.  Moody.     12  separate  sermons. 

Published  in  small,  square  form,  suitable  for  distribution,  or  inclos- 
ing in  letters.      35  cents  per  dozen,  $2.50  per  hundred.      May  be  had 

assorted  or  of  any  separate  tract. 


CHICAGO. 


Flemiiis  H.  Reyell  Conipaiiy. 


NEW  YORK. 


A   ^nfrfrF^TION    ^^^^  ^°'"  *^^  ^^^^  volume  and  see  what  a  mine  of 


want  the  full  set. 


'•  wealth  is  in  these  "Notes."      You  will  surely 


"C.  H.M.'s"  NOTES, 


OR 


THEG08PEL1NTHEPENTATEUGH 


These  Books  are  not  Commen- 
taries,  ;n  the  ordinary  under- 
standing of  that  word  ;  they  are 
of  a  more  popular  style  ;  helpful, 
suggestive,  inspiring. 


GENESIS,  EXODUS,  LEVITICUS, 

NUMBERS  AND  DEUTERONOMY. 
Read  thefollowing  Commendations  from  well-known 
Pastors,  Evangelists,  Laymen,  Etc. 
"Some  years  since  1  had  my  attention  called  to  C.  H. 
M.'s  Notes,  and  was  so  much  pleased,  and  at  the  same 
time  profited  by  the  way  they  opened  up  Scriptural 
truths,  that  I  secured  at  once  all  the  writings  of  the 
same  author.  They  have  been  to  me  a  very  key  to  the 
Scriptures"  D.  L.  MOODY. 

"Under  God  they  have  blessed  me  more  than  any 
books  outside  of  the  Bible  itself,  that  I  have  ever  read, 
and  have  led  me  to  a  love  of  the  Bible  that  is  proving 
an  unfailing  source  of  profit." 

maj.  d.  w.  whittle. 

Deuteronomy  is  issued  in  two  volumes,  the  others  complete  in  one 
volume  each. 

Separate  volumes  may  be  had  if  desired.  Sent  post  paid  to  any 
address  on  receipt  of  price. 

The  complete  set  in  tix  volumes^  covering  over  3,j,oo  pages,  ia 
offered  at  the  reduced  price  of  l^^:.  per  Vol.  Of  $4.50  per  Set. 


BewYort    FLEMING  H.  REVELl  CO.     Chicago. 


Theological   Seminary-Spee' 


1    1012  01006  8999 


■i#3 


..'  v.■V'^"^^i.:•VM;'.;^^;■;!^ 


it."' ■'^<•:iVvi:•;' 
•.'^^■;•^:Ui^:,•' 


%^ 


;;^.y;i!^::;i: 


